Kim Shook

susan and anyone else regarding the sore, chapped, dry hands: (sorry about the lower case, but i am recovering from carpal tunnel surgery and typing is hard!). between all the cooking i do and working at the store with counting money and paperwork and washing all the time, my hands were in horrible shape - cracked and red and rough (i had to put on hand cream before i could put on stockings and sometimes i would be counting money and notice blood on it from my fingers!). i finally went to my dr. about it and he put in on a program that in one week completely fixed the problem. He prescribed triamcinolon cream - this is a steriod cream and therefore, can't be used a lot - just while you have actively open fissures. For regular days, he recommended Kerodex 51 cream. The most important part of the program is wearing latex (or non-latex) gloves for EVERYTHING. I wear them all day long at the store and whenever i am cooking/cleaning/crafting at home. this was really hard to get used to - but i perservered and am used to them now - i hardly notice them at all. this really, really solved my problem and i tried everything else in the past - including bag balm (pretty good) and neosporin and overnight cotton gloves. edited to say - wonderful blog - i have thoroughly enjoyed the vicarious soup noshing!

Excellent Chicken Noodle Soup This is my most successful chicken soup recipe ever. This was delicious – rich, tasty, chicken-y and a great mouth feel. It is another one of those recipes that is VERY inexact. Mostly a set of directions. You do it by taste, but really it’s very, very easy! The best way to make this is to begin the day before you want to serve it. Make the stock and the chicken the first day and then just put the soup together the day of the meal. Whole chicken(s), cut up Carrots Onions Celery Poultry seasoning Salt & pepper Tomato paste Olive oil Chicken broth “Better Than Bouillon” chicken flavor, optional Carrots, sliced and cooked Kluski egg noodles, cooked Parsley Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put the chicken back, neck, wings and gizzards into a roasting pan with the roughly chopped vegetables. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Make a slurry of tomato paste and olive oil and drizzle over the chicken and vegetables. Toss to coat. Roast until the ingredients are browned, tossing occasionally (this took about 45 minutes). Put everything into a stock pot. Deglaze the roasting pan with broth and add the liquid to the pot. Add enough broth to cover the ingredient by at least two inches. Set on very low heat. Bring the contents of the pot to a simmer VERY, VERY slowly. Skim off the impurities as they rise to the top. Keep the stock at a VERY gentle simmer for three hours, adding broth, if necessary, to keep the liquid level above the solids. When done, cool, strain out the solids and defat (defatting is MUCH easier if you just refrigerate it after straining and use it the next day). Using this stock, simmer the rest of the chicken pieces until done. Cool the pieces, remove meat and cut into bite sized pieces. Let the stock cool enough so that you can defat again (one of those large glass fat separators is invaluable at this point!). Taste the stock at this point and adjust the seasonings. I added some of the “Better Than Bouillon” at this point – it is really good stuff and enriches the stock without adding a chemical or salty taste like bouillon does. Add the chicken pieces, cooked carrots, parsley and noodles to the stock. Heat and serve! Keywords: Soup, Chicken ( RG1936 )

Here's my recipe: clickety Sometimes I get a few clumps of sugar, but it is still really good.

Shaloop has the best recipe for a Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecake I have ever tasted. clickety

Funny. From most of the above posts, I think the food of the 80's was a lot better than the music or the fashion!

Word.

I am looking to make a plain cheesecake (I am using Dailey's "Lindy's Cheesecake" recipe for the filling) with that (I think) baked on sour cream topping layer. Someone ordered it from me and I cannot find instructions on any recipe for doing it this way! Can someone help me, please?? I need to get this cake made and in the freezer before next Monday (I am having hand surgery and won't be able to bake for awhile). Thanks so much!

Yep, grew up eating them and still like them a lot. I haven't made them in a while, though - time to try some. Mr. Kim's mom always served them with a sauce made from cream of celery soup ! We really do need a yakking smilie.

This year, when I put out my nuts for Christmas, I discovered that my old standby nutcracker had sprung a spring and wouldn't work anymore. I made do with a crab leg cracker, but would like to replace the nutcracker before next year. So, is there any reason not to buy the same nutcracker? I have always used the same kind - don't think I've bought more than 2 in the past 25 years and I think my mother has had the same one forever. And they are so cheap! But does anyone have one that is just so fantastic that I just must have it? Ta!

Scott and everyone else - thanks for your help. I was able to fix the problem and the syrup is fine. It was in a plastic pitcher and so I crunched it up with a butter knife, put it back in a saucepan, added some more bourbon and some dark corn syrup and slowly brought it to a boil. It is nice and bourbon-y and syrupy now! I really appreciate it - I really don't like doing things over and over again and you saved me some much needed gift wrapping time. Kim

I love the work by Lisa Caballero. Don't know that I will never have the money or the kitchen to host one of them. And anyway, I don't think that I could choose my favorite among them.

I make bourbon syrup every Christmas to pour on top of sweet potatoes. It has always worked just fine. But this time it crystallized and is hard instead of syrupy. Here is the recipe that I use: Bourbon Syrup. Any ideas what I did wrong this time and how I can do it right? Also, I assume that I can't do anything about the solid mass of bourbon rock candy that I have in a narrow necked pitcher . Thanks, Kim

Here is the recipe. Kim ← I was just thinking about making butter mints for the holidays. Do you think this recipe would work well with molds as well? I have a jillion candy molds, and need to justify their existance every once in a while I'm guessing that the ingerdient "16 oz. box (4 c.) 10X, sifted" is superfine sugar? thanks for any guidance, I've never made mints... ← Yep, as alanamoana said, it's powdered sugar, and I am sure that they would work just fine with molds. They were extremely easy to make!

Chris, we really enjoyed this one. Had a friend visiting from FL and made him watch, too. He travels a lot and hopes to have one of those burgers someday!! They were......awesome !

We ate at Edo Squid last night and had a fantastic meal. Started out with Scungilli Insalata, Fried Squid and Fried Oysters. The scungilli is something we always get. I have never had such tender meat and the dressing is so good that we always ask for extra bread for dunking. The squid and oysters were sweet and tender and perfectly cooked. Main courses were Penne w/ Gorgonzola, Penne Al' Amatriciana (sp?), Spaghetti w/ sausage, ricotta & brocoli rabe and the Rockfish special. The gorgonzola dish and Al' Amatriciana are regular dishes for us and we love them and we had the Rockfish one time before (simple and perfectly cooked - the kind of dish you want to give fish haters so they will understand how good fish can be), but the sausage, ricotta and rabe was a new try. Really hearty and good. There were also tomatoes in the sauce and the sausage is, I'm sure, house-made. Lightly spicy, but not hot and a little loose textured. I am so glad that I have a little appetite - I brought my leavings home and it is enough for at least 3 more meals.

MIL wants to make divinity now and serve at Xmas if she can. Does anyone know how and how long to store it? This is one of my main pet peeves. When I am Queen of the Universe, the law will be that all recipes must tell you exactly how and how long you can store something. Ta!

Kerry - the texture of the benne candy depends on when you make it and how good your thermometer is . Last time they were very chewy (almost like a Squirrel Nut Zipper, if you know them), this time they were more crunchy, but not hard since they have so many sesame seeds in them. Kim

Looking on the bright side, these tacky people will give you something to snicker over privately in years to come . And get used to it, I guaran-damn-tee you this won't be the only tacky thing they do over the years.

Perfect orgy of goody making this week. Chocolate dipped sponge candy (chocolate is still warm - that's why it is so beautiful and shiny - I am not gifted at tempering): Benne Candy (sorry for the crappy lighting - still getting used to my wonderful new digital camera!): And Cheese Straws (don't really belong in this thread, but I wasn't sure where else to put them):

Here is the recipe. Kim

Kerry, I rolled them out and cut them with a cooky cutter. Really easy! Kim

Anna N - your chocolates are just so shiny and gorgeous! I can't believe that you are new to candy making! I made old fashioned butter mints for an anniversary party for my in laws: I had forgotten how good freshly made butter mints could be!

My most recent cupcakes were some that I made for an "Alice in Wonderland" style tea party. They were just nice vanilla cupcakes with different colored buttercream. Simple but good!

Now that I finally have a digital camera and have figured out how to post the pictures from it (thank you, Mr. Kim), I thought I'd post some things I've been doing. A Raspberry-Chocolate Ganache cake that I sold for a birthday celebration - my first cake sale! A couple of desserts I made for my in law's anniversary: Black and White Celebration Cake: Sliced: Million Dollar Pound Cake - note the beautiful crown? This is what what UNDER that beautiful crown - it was empty, but tasted great! I also made a bunch of cupcakes that I sold for an "Alice in Wonderland" tea party that I am going to post on the cupcake thread.

Me, too. I want to live with Rachel - not in any scary, internet stalky way , I just love everything I read and see and experience in all of your posts here, Rachel! I am so glad you printed your entire Fairey Tea poem. I just love the poem and the story behind it. The artist is wonderful, too! Thanksgiving dinner looked wonderful. I really missed my pimento cheese this year. MIL has a little yankee in her and never has it! Oh, well, I am in charge of Christmas Eve dinner and it will be there! Kim