Kim Shook

I left out one thing. Jessica and I are making chocolate dipped pretzel rods, marshmallows, and 75 strawberries for Saturday night's Easter Vigil at church. I am furiously working on my timeline for this week right now. I know I'll feel better when I know exactly what I have to do and when I have to do it!

I did my non-perishable shopping today and will get the fresh stuff on Friday. This has turned into the crazy month. Easter, my mother's memorial service on 4/23, my turn to not only shop for, but to actually prepare the 125 lunches that our church takes to homeless shelters every month. Sheesh! I know it will all get done because it has to, but I'm worn out just thinking about it.

This one purports to be a duplicate for Aunt Jemima's and doesn't have any mixes in the ingredients. I can't vouch for it because I've never used pancake mix.

Welcome to eG, @PatrickT! Make sure to check out this topic, too. Lots of our very best bakers post there and they are a great bunch.

We actually did this one Christmas. All the beds were full of guests and we put an air mattress in the kitchen to sleep on because Jessica (age 8) insisted we shouldn't sleep in the living room because it might interfere with Santa's visit. My cat left a dead mouse beside me. He'd refrained from eating the head and feet (his favorite parts), so I have to assume it was intended as my Christmas breakfast.

I'm so sorry for the loss of your dad. But it's good that your daughter and sister will be able to be with you.

@Norm Matthews - what a perfect meal! Forgot and screwed up "meatless" Friday this morning with BACON, but I got back on track with dinner: Smoked oysters and Premium saltines. So basic, but SO damn good!

Mr. Kim made salad and burgers for dinner last night: They were Sizzle Burgers which folks who grew up in the 1970s in the US might remember. Simply burgers fried in a pan in butter and Worcestershire sauce. Delicious. I really love a fried/griddled burger.

Mr. Kim had a leftover Sizzle Burger (Worcestershire and butter cooked) from dinner last night, so the Trashy Lunch Week was over:

I'm one of those people who liked Dyer's in NOLA a LOT. So, the closer a place comes to that, the happier I am.

I'm going to have to seek out those watermelon radishes at the farmer's market. The only ones I ever had were from Kroger and they were tasteless. Breakfast today was "things on toast" - always a winning category:

"Iron"-ic that this person's last "good deed" will be the instrument of their death. LOL

I would like very much to try a Smashburger as they are my kind of burgers - flat and charred. There are locations in Northern VA (a couple of hours away) and in Hampton (1 1/2 hours away). As much as I'd like to try them, once I get to either one of those places, there are many other restaurants I'd go to before I'd go to Smashburger. We're getting a Shake Shack here soon. Looking forward to trying that. We are lucky enough to have a couple of 50+ places that are basically burger stands that make fantastic burgers and fries, so a new place would have to do a lot to win us over.

I almost always fill a coconut cake with lemon or lime curd. It adds a nice tang to the cake. Coconut cake can go overboard on sweetness sometimes.

Shelby's Cucumbers Jessica's Pineapple Casserole Here's the recipe I'm using for the Cumberland Sauce. I'll probably be using red wine vinegar rather than wine or juice - the sauce tends to be very sweet. I did, too. In the past, I always made one without cheese or really any topping at all. I honestly don't taste much cheesiness in Jessica's and think it could easily be omitted. I wouldn't omit the topping though - it really adds a lot to the dish.

Well, it only be four of us for Easter dinner. The three of us plus Mr. Kim's mom. Jessica feels that we might as well be homeless heathens if we (I) don't do a big multi-dish meal. So, here's the menu: Ham (Mr. Kim is smoking it) w/ Cumberland sauce Green beans @Shelby's cukes Pineapple casserole (Jessica is doing this) Bourdain's Gratin Dauphinois Deviled eggs (Jessica) Relish tray (Mr. Kim) Yeast rolls - Jessica has been summoned to my MIL's to learn the intricacies of THE ROLLS. They are fantastic and she won ribbons at the state fair every time she entered these. I was planning on making a coconut cake (as requested by Mr. Kim), but his mom announced that she was bringing dessert. I confess I'm a little irritated. Who does that? Basically saying, "Oh, never mind what you were planning on, I'm making what I want". 🙄 I am too sensitive, I know.

Trashy Lunch Week continues - yesterday: Bologna and yellow mustard sandwich. And Fritos. Today: More frozen, breaded fish fillets, applesauce, fixed up boxed mac and cheese, and leftover cornbread.

@blue_dolphin - I agree. I suspected as much from what I'd heard about them, but Jessica was keen to try them. Never again. This morning was just a buttered bagel: I tend to get sleepy after breakfast and I have a LOT to do today. April is becoming an overwhelming month for me, so I need every "edge" I can manage! 😉

See my response to @KennethT. 🙂

Yes! I would have just blamed my compromised palate if Mr. Kim hadn't agreed with me. And it didn't say anything about it on the package. Even the ingredients just listed "spices".

Here you go!

@Norm Matthews – I like the béchamel version, too, but that lasagna looks delicious. @Duvel – once again, I’m so envious of yours (AND your young man’s) breading expertise! @Dejah – your seafood paella and the scallops look so wonderful. Smart to do the scallops separately. @Shelby – those radishes. I want them and butter and bread and a plate of Malden salt for lunch. I won’t show them to Mr. Kim. He’s sensitive about radishes. I don’t know if you remember his sad little radishes last year. They were basically little fuzzy red roots😂. Tasted good, though. Glad you tried the chicken. We need to have some kind of fried chicken soon. @kayb – Yay for you!!! And it looks great. We love limas! On Saturday, Jessica requested shrimp burgers. Brioche buns with some creamy horseradish/chili sauce: Boston lettuce: Shrimp burgers: More sauce: Served with slaw, tots, and a kinda-sorta panzanella salad: Campari tomatoes, red bell pepper (I avoided them and I find that cut large, they pollute the dish less), celery, English cucumber, and some too-hard croutons I made. Semi-soaked in some Kraft Zesty Italian dressing (my college roommate introduced me to Kraft Zesty along with taco salad and I still crave it sometimes). Dinner on Monday was a bit of a bust. One of Jessica’s friends had told us about a waffle hack. You prepare a muffin mix according to directions on the package and bake them in a waffle maker. A ‘muffle’, if you will. We got home late, so I started dinner right away, not realizing that both Mr. Kim and Jessica were going to have important phone calls to attend to. The muffles were the perfect texture when they came out of the waffle maker and I tried to keep them warm in the CSO, but they ended up like rusks when we went to eat them. I’ll give them another try, but next time, I’ll cook them when everyone is ready to eat: With scrambled eggs and Benton’s bacon. Last night – salad with Momofuku dressing: BBQ flavored pork cutlets, sweet potatoes, and fixed up boxed mac and cheese: The pork was an Aldi Shake & Bake knock-off. I didn’t grow up eating Shake & Bake but gave it a try when Marlene talked about it. I ended up actually liking it. But this was awful. The cutlets never got crisp on the outside and the coating spicy to the point that it was almost inedible. Even Mr. Kim, who is a stunt eater extraordinaire, said it was exceedingly hot. Thank goodness I made some cornbread:

Saturday: Chicken sandwiches from the chicken I roasted the other night. So good! Monday lunch was basically school cafeteria style: Fish fillet sandwich, Fritos, and grapes! The fish was Freemont brand, which I get at Aldi and are actually the best frozen, breaded fish fillets I’ve found. Yesterday – this week must be trashy lunch week🙄: Canned bean with bacon soup and Underwood deviled ham sandwich with Duke’s. I love deviled ham. I love homemade deviled ham – especially the one that @kayb has recommended. But I confess I also love trashy old Underwood with Duke’s. 😊

@blue_dolphin - your Dutch baby is gorgeous! @Ann_T – I always love seeing any of your bread offerings, but I’m especially craving your biscuits today. Saturday: ET bagel with cream cheese and Benton’s bacon, grapes, and some weird strawberries that were supposed to taste like a pineapple-strawberry mix but didn’t.

You and me, both. It was 73 degrees here yesterday and I was bitching about it only being April and if it was already mid 70s, what was May going to be like - yada, yada, yada. I don't know who I thought I was complaining to.