Kim Shook

This is where I am. I buy the cookbooks fully intending to cook extensively from them, perhaps even cook through them ala "Julie and Julia". I read each one and make a list that I put in the inside cover of each cookbook before it goes on the shelf. On the shelf is where they tend to stay. Good intentions...you know the rest.

Anna, thanks for bringing that recipe to our attention. I copied and will be making that one!

I am making cupcakes right this minute! I have Ina Garten's Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes cooling now and Key Lime Cupcakes with Coconut Meringue in the oven. Those last are one of those 'Cake Mix Doctor' concoctions, but they sounded so good that I figured if they are worth it, I can always adapt a good yellow cake recipe for it. I am off work Tues, Wed and Friday this week and expecting company this weekend, so I am cooking my head off (Mr. Kim is going to clean ) and having a ball. I made the Cook's Illustrated white sandwich bread this morning - really beautiful looking - I am waiting to taste until Mr. Kim gets home! Anna, is that recipe for a yellow or a chocolate cupcake?

It's even better than that...an Irishman complaining about Lithuanian potato cuisine !

Wait a minute. First Kim (and Susan), please mention edition and size of AHD you have. That's important, more below. I've got a shelf of anglophone dictionaries handy (not counting the foreigners). For years, many US word fans have prized the full-size 3rd ed. of the AHD. (1992, not quite 12 inches [30 cm] high, often black paper cover). Just months ago I was told (by a literary scholar) that lexicographers and linguists dislike the AHD for being too prescriptive, exactly opposite of complaints above. To name just one example (probably distracting, because it's outside many people's universe), for 25 years I've seen complaints in print about a US pronunciation shift in a word I don't use much but some people do, especially if they are being "fancy." As one essayist put it in the 1980s, the "correct" or traditional way to say this word, patina, stresses the first syllable (like STAMina), but that newbies, so to speak, shifted it to paTEENa and don't realize this. My point: AHD fullsize 3rd supports that essayist (PAT-uh-na as the leading pronunciation example) and gives the story behind the word. (It comes from paten, if you're curious.) The AHD originally stood out via pictures (now more common) and advice from a diverse Usage Panel. (Which split evenly, in 3rd ed., on US syllable stress for harrass, in which "Curiously, ... each side regards itself as an embattled minority.") Between the 3rd and the 4th editions though, the photos went to color, unfortunately in some cases (to see why, compare beret, derby, and fedora in fullsize 3rd vs. 4th). It also simplified or omitted many diverting, even brilliant little articles about strange word histories and dilemmas. For instance, at aggravate, Comstockery, dinner (apropos this forum!), Frankenstein, kludge ("not `etymologist-friendly' " -- AHD), and Melba toast. May have made other changes too, and it is in process of revision, current 4th to be replaced by "new" 4th this summer. My defense of AHD therefore reflects only 3rd and earlier. ← um. It's whatever turned up on yahoo when I search for 'dictionary'

Europe's Worst Cuisines My take: intentional sweeping generalizations, but lol funny! Discuss?

I can heartily recommend the Bavarian Chef in Madison - just north of Hooville on 29. Phone #:540 948 6505. Just to let you know: you do not want to eat here and then have a road trip ahead of you. This is solid, filling, delicious food. Make sure that you don't have anything more strenuous than a slow short stroll ahead of you that evening !

What always bugs me about this whole shtick (the faux chef home thing) is that the producers think that that is important to me . Why am I any more likely to cook someone's recipe if they are filming in their home than on a set??? This is what drove me to scream at the tv during that Next FN Star show. I was constantly disagreeing with what the execs were telling the contestants. "The audience wants to think that this is your home, not a set". NOOOOOO! I don't care where they are, I care what they are cooking!!!

What Howard said. For all the (many) faults of the Next Food Network Star, they were at least upfront about their goal. They were making their judgements largely on what, according to their market research, would appeal to the food network viewer. With TC, you had to pay really close attention to discover that the judges' "decisions" were made in concert with the producers'. Many times the judges had to tap dance all over the place trying to 'justify' a decision that was so obviously not theirs, but Bravo's. I really hate "Reality TV" and this is one of the reasons why.

If said crime involves crispy bread, dripping with butter and sweet berry juices sign me up. ← Yup, me too! If you go to the recipe, you'll see that it's just good bread (I used a thin ciabatta), toasted crisp, buttered, with sliced strawberries on top. Sprinkle with sugar and caramelize. Thats it. What could be wrong with that ?? I think that 'bruschetta' is just a sort of short cut word so to explain how it is put together. Anyway. How is this much different from strawberry jam with toast?

OMG, Badiane!!! I have said this very thing for years. I love fried chicken, but the very best part of any fried chicken is the skin. I have always wished that you could order a plate of fried or roasted chicken skin (of course, I couldn't eat it anymore - gastric bypass - but it is my favorite!).

At Southside 815 in Alexandria VA, I had what they called a Low Country Shortcake - Chicken, Oysters, Succotash, mashed potatoes on Cornbread covered with gravy. It was excellent . But it wasn't KFC .

I am tossing the American Heritage Dictionary. It lists 'ex-presso' as an alternative pronunciation of es-presso, 'kul-linary' as an alternative to 'kyoo-linary' and (my own personal biggest pet peeve) 'kar-mel' as an alternative to 'ka-ra-mel'. ! OK. So maybe it's only me that gets all flipped out over this stuff . Does anyone else out there get steamed over what you consider (because, of course, I could be totally wrong ) to be mispronunciation of words? It doesn't bother me at all when it is my mom or someone I am serving at work, but when it is a so-called professional on TV, I get sooooo pissed. I may need help here .

I tried making Giada De Laurentiis' Strawberry Bruschetta today. I watched her do this on tv the other day and, as far as I can tell, I duplicated it exactly today. I am having no luck caramelizing the sugar . It's as if the juice from the strawberries is making the sugar wet and therefore it won't caramelize. I tried to 'pile up' the sugar a bit and use the torch really quickly after putting on the sugar, but can't get a caramelization. Is there something that I could do to avoid this, because it looks so good and we are just starting to get strawberries here! Thanks!

Oh, wow, oh, wow, petite tête de chou! That custard recipe was awsome! Mr. Kim and I both just loved it! I used your idea of doing half butter half olive oil and since Mr. Kim doesn't like smoked cheeses, I used an aged Gouda that I had on hand. It feels very cool to make something that 'upscale' from what are basically leftovers and 'on hand' items. Thank you so much!

OK, Bill. Garlic custard is one of my favorite things. Do you have a tried and true recipe? I had it at a restaurant one time with lobster meat and a butter sauce and it was amazing. ← Go to http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/lamb-chops-garlic-custard. Looks good to me and it's a web exclusive--not in their book.Based on dish Cindy Wolf serves at Charleston in Baltimore. ← Bill, that looks truly wonderful. Thanks so much for the link. I copied and will definitely be making that soon!!!

I just checked my recipes and I do both! With our very, very favorite Shelly's Fried Chicken, I single dip. With Tyler Florence's Cold Fried Chicken, I double dip. That actually makes sense to me - because of what I like from each kind. With hot fried chicken I love the thin crackly fried skin mostly, whereas with cold fried chicken I like the fried coating. Does that make any sense at all ?

I thought that we had discussed this before, but couldn't find the thread. It is a 'magazine' that you can subscribe to for free and it's put out by Kraft foods. Essentially one long advert. Which is fine - it's free, after all. But it is very, very snark-worthy. One of the recipes offered is for grilled pizza. I was reminded of the most recent blog. The recipe calls for one ingredient: 1 DiGiorno Thin Crispy Cust Supreme Pizza. You put it on a grill. You heat it up. You take it off. Serves 5. ! I love this. I am going to subscribe. I can read this while watching Sandra Lee.

very cool, dick! do you feel like a secret agent when you carry it? ← When I carry this, I feel like a Secret Agent: http://www.sigarms.com/Products/ShowCatalo...=8&productid=63 -Dick ←

I have seen those at Sur la Table and thought that they were great. The only thing is, is that the knives will still roll around in whatever they are packed in. That was the only reason that I didn't get them. Plus - I could never remember what size knives I had when I was at the store and I could never remember to measure the knives when I was home !

As to chocolate, I can recommend the York peppermint patty sugar-free. They are amazingly good actually. You can hardly tell the difference and that is the only sugar free candy that I have EVER said that about.

OK, Bill. Garlic custard is one of my favorite things. Do you have a tried and true recipe? I had it at a restaurant one time with lobster meat and a butter sauce and it was amazing.

Thank you so much. That sounds fantastic. I have to work 12 pm to 10 pm tomorrow through Sunday. Do you think that I can make this in the am and reheat when I get home?

OOOOHHH!! Can you refer me to a recipe? That sounds wonderful!

I have 6 leftover egg yolks from making a white cake and am wondering what to do with them. Any ideas? We have plenty of sweets in the house already, so I am hoping for something savoury. Thanks!