Kim Shook

They are called Baguette Bagels and are made by ACE bakery. They can be a little pale sometimes, but the flavor and texture are great and I can get them at Kroger rather than having to get to the bagel place before they close.

This morning: Sausage, egg, and cheese on an ET bagel.

@Norm Matthews – I’m a Southern girl so soup can cooking doesn’t bother me in the least😄! I’d actually love to know your process for that gravy, if you don’t mind sharing. @Duvel – you are killing me with the khachapuri. I’ve just sent a message to the best bakery in town to ask if they ever make it. Last night we were trying to go to a Pho place that Jessica had heard good things about, but they were closed. So, since we were in the neighborhood, we went to a Chinese restaurant called Full Kee for the first time in more than 20 years. Not sure why we ever stopped coming – it has been one of the most lauded Chinese restaurants in Richmond for years. I’m guessing that when we moved across town, our old favorite was so close that it just became “our place”. Crab Rangoon, an egg roll, and hot and sour soup: Greaseless and crisp – and they actually had discernable crab! Very good. As perfectly grease-free and crispy as the Rangoons, but not my holy grail of the egg rolls of my youth - the old-school Chinese American ones with tiny shrimp, juliennes of roast pork and very dark, crisp cabbage. This is kind of our litmus test for Chinese restaurants. If it is good and white-peppery with the right amount of vegetables, we feel like we can trust the other things on the menu. Maybe a flawed test, but it’s worked for us thus far. Mr. Kim had the Beef Peking style: Probably not as spicy as he was hoping, because it was fine for me. Very flavorful and incredibly tender. He said the mushrooms and broccoli were perfect (meaning the broccoli was crunchy🤢😄). I had the Roast Pork w/ Snow Peas: Really tasty sauce and meltingly tender pork. And nicely crisp veggies. Weirdo me hates crunchy broccoli, but loves crisp/tender carrots, snow peas, and bamboo shoots! Jessica had the Shrimp and Fried Bean Curd w/ Golden Mushroom Casserole: Pretty sure that this was not what she was expecting. There was a lot of bean curd, and the sauce was very light, so it didn’t really have a chance to soak up much flavor. There was also a lot of cabbage, which is also not strongly flavored. The shrimp, however, was perfectly cooked and delicious.

@btbyrd – your teppanyaki looks excellent. I would much rather have yours than a restaurant’s. @Norm Matthews– Salisbury steak is an old favorite for me. I also confess to liking it done with cubed steak. Your gravy looks so dark and rich! Now I’m craving that! @Ann_T – One of my favorite meals! Between your turkey meal and Norm’s Salisbury steak, I’m craving GRAVY😁! Jessica was pet sitting during the Super Bowl, so we had our football feast Tuesday night while watching a movie. Chippy dip: Crudites: With the bell peppers properly segregated 😄 . Jessica’s Surimi casserole w/ wonton wrap chips and some Asian salad: She cut up the surimi smaller for this so that we could eat it like a dip. “Totchos”: Made with tots, cheese, Mr. Kim’s BBQ, and BBQ sauce. Hot Swiss and bacon dip: Chex mix: Last night was leftovers. Mr. Kim’s: Steak reheated in the CSO on bake/steam with bearnaise, Ukrops’ (local prepared food store – used to be a beloved grocery store) Duchess potatoes, and corn. Mine: Jessica’s surimi casserole w/ wonton chips.

@weinoo – can those be purchased in the US? This morning: Croissant a la Plancha – simply a day-old croissant split and fried in butter. Custardless French toast, basically.

You can absolutely freeze it. When you want to eat it, you don't even have to thaw - just steam gently.

Yep. There's a reason that really good culinary programs teach business classes as well as cooking ones. His class was fantastic - he was a good teacher. I still make the panzanella salad that I learned to make when I took the class with him.

@Duvel – your pides are things of beauty. I wish I could find them somewhere. I tried to make them once and wasn’t successful. I’m also intrigued with doner turkey! @Dejah – love the look of your shrimp and grits. I like that there don’t seem to be any peppers. @Shelby – I would LOVE to sit down to your turkey dinner. The skin on that leg quarter is amazing! @MaryIsobel – I’m really funny with textures, too. No cream of wheat, cream of rice, Maypo, oatmeal, congee, etc. But I really like both grits and polenta. So, worth a try, I guess! @CantCookStillTry – thank you so much for sharing your story and your meal with us. I am unashamedly fond of canned spaghetti – I’ve never outgrown that. And I love the stories that are attached to the foods we eat. It is my favorite part of eG. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the last few days on the “How we ate growing up” thread and am loving it. On Sunday we were supposed to have a gameday feast, but Jessica ended up pet sitting for whackaloons that basically expected her to be there 24/7 – for CATS🙄! So, we are having that when she comes home today. Mr. Kim and I snacked on cheese and crackers and cookies from coffee hour at church (I was one of the hostesses this morning) and the Chex mix I made: Voila! Dinner!😁 Last night I let Mr. Kim choose Valentine’s dinner - strip steaks, buttered corn, and @Marlene’s Crispy Smashed Potatoes. I added béarnaise and we picked up dessert at Fresh Market and Kroger. I did the steaks SV – 130F for 2 1/2 hours. Mr. Kim seared them on the gas grill burner in an iron skillet: They were perfectly cooked for us and very tender: I also served a baguette - just because we needed a THIRD carb: 😁 The desserts: The bar cake and ricotta cheesecake were Fresh Market and the strawberries from Kroger. And, as much as we want it to not be true, we just can’t get great strawberries in the middle of February in VA☹️.

Mr. Kim and Jessica were in VA Beach Saturday morning redeeming his Xmas gift of whale watching (they saw a number of breaches plus lots of dolphins). His lunch when he returned was a BLT: Mr. Kim was working from home on Valentine's Day and we had some errands to run. So, we had lunch at a place where we are regulars. Mr. Kim got the always outstanding chili dogs and fries: And I got the first item that I’ve had in 27 years that wasn’t good: It was a meatball sandwich, and it was just all kinds of wrong. Not enough cheese or sauce to start with. But what isn’t visible is how subpar the meatballs were. They were tasteless and mealy and utterly dry. It was as if they were made with some meat alternative. I was SO disappointed. But every single thing we’ve had in almost 30 years has been really, really good, so I’m guessing this is a blind spot. Today: Off the Bone ham and Swiss cheese on a Lidl croissant.

My goodness! That is incredible. I tried to eat some mango this morning that was so tasteless and dry that I tossed it. And then I see this! ❤️ This morning's breakfast was leftover baguette slices from dinner last night and regular bacon (that’s what we call bacon that isn’t Benton’s😁😞

That sky is gorgeous. What is with the chili? The grain/rice looking stuff?

I think I'm getting to the bottom of why we see Jo so often in the "I will never again..." thread. I love aprons and am a mess, so I wear one at all times. I have a large hook on the kitchen wall and have all kinds of fun, interesting, beautiful aprons on it - even some for each holiday. What do I end up wearing? A stained white one I got from a Roberto Donna cooking class YEARS ago. Why? Because it is the only one with ties long enough to wrap around me and tie in the front. Why don't more apron manufacturers do that???

So, I ended up salting the day before and refrigerating uncovered. I rinsed and dried it before sprinkling with Montreal Steak Seasoning and a little demerara sugar (I used to do this years ago and remembered we liked it a lot) and putting it in the bag. I SV'd it at 130F for 2 1/2 hours, took it out of the bag and dried it. Then Mr. Kim seared it in an iron skillet on the gas grill burner for about 2 minutes on high. It was very good and we thought it was cooked to the exact degree we like. It was also incredibly tender, especially for a strip steak. After the sear and inside:

If you have an Aldi near you I've found that beef there. We are actually having our Super Bowl dinner tonight because Jessica ended up pet sitting for some whackaloons who expected her to be there 24/7 as much as possible - for CATS! So, we're watching a movie and eating stuff tonight. On game day Mr. Kim and I nibbled cheese and crackers and Chex Mix and enjoyed watching a good game in which we didn't have a dog. I didn't care who won and it was actually nice and low-stress not loving or hating anyone. 😄

These look great! I'm glad you found a combination you like! Bravo!

Just a big old breakfast sandwich this morning. Toasted bun with melted cheese and sausage patties: Topped with a ring-cooked egg: Gloriously drippy and gooshy:

@MaryIsobel – Mr. Kim and I come close to your daughter’s bacon plate now. Mr. Kim grew up in a family that had to watch their pennies and bacon with breakfast was a treat. Mr. Kim and his siblings got ONE piece each and his dad got two. My mom just cooked the entire package of bacon and put it on a plate in the middle of the table. She never knew how many kids and friends would be there, so it was a free for all. But I’m sure everyone got enough. The first time I made breakfast for Mr. Kim, I accordingly cooked a pound (remember?) of bacon and set it on the table. I joke that that was the moment he fell in love with me. And he’s never denied it. 😊 @Norm Matthews – Mr. Kim promised to make chili last week and somehow it never happened. Your chili looks absolutely delicious. @liamsaunt – I’m so sorry about your cockles. You’d think that he could smell that they were off when he was bagging them. Dinner was a strange combination: Beef kielbasa from Costco, leftover vegetable stir fry with fresh water chestnuts and bean sprouts, and Basmati rice. So, Chinese vegetables, Polish sausage, and Indian rice. It was very good, though – even the leftover veggies!

My parents lived in Edgewater - about 20 minutes away from Cantler's - when I was in college. I remember going there with them. We were crazy for crabs and they loved living in the middle of crab country! When I was in HS, we had a little place on Chincoteague Island and on Friday nights, Momma and I knew we'd won when @Ted Fairhead turned into the parking lot of Fisherman's Inn at Kent Narrows. I remember it as a shack when I was a little girl, but by the time I was in HS, it was "fancy" and my traditional order was crab-stuffed jumbo shrimp with a Creme de Menthe parfait for dessert - ultimate swank! 😁

Lunch yesterday was egg salad sandwiches. The egg salad was excellent - from a little local market that I forget to go to. When I do, I'm always kicking myself for not going more often. They even had cream cheese and none of the other stores (5 different large stores) did.

Well, it's happening. The menu is expanding 😳 . We've now added chips and dip, summer sausage, and Jessica's creamy surimi dip w/ fried wonton "chips". I suck at "holding the line". 🙄😄

Quick question - I'm doing a couple of SV NY strip steaks for St. V's day (they are Mr. Kim's favorite steak). Should I salt these and let them sit uncovered in the fridge overnight? And, if so, do I rinse before putting in the SV bag? I'm sure all of this has been addressed elsewhere, but I can't find it. Ta!!

I have a couple of recipes that I go to. This one is bare bones Eastern Shore almost nothing but crab. It's delicious. This one is a little more refined and has more ingredients. I was raised going to the Eastern Shore and Baltimore and I love Old Bay. The smell and flavor tell me I'm about to have one of the best meals of my life. I don't mind adding a pinch to crabcakes, but I wouldn't overdo it. I think you could make any of the suggested recipes and have great crabcakes. I agree with @liamsaunt - make them ahead of time and let them firm up in the fridge. Saltine or soda crackers are the traditional 'binder' and don't let anyone talk you into adding bell peppers or onions in your crabcakes! They just don't belong. If you are looking for something to use up crabmeat and want something a little different than cakes, you might want to try this elegant and sublime small plate.

@Dante – I love Benedictine spread! As a teenager, I went to a friend’s family’s Kentucky Derby party and fell in love with the stuff. @liamsaunt – What a great solution to the bony fish. I hate dealing with excessively bony fish. Having to pick tiny bones out of my mouth interferes with my enjoyment of the flavor of the fish. I grew up around the Eastern Shore of VA and MD and in Baltimore they eat a LOT of “Lake Trout” (whiting), which is very bony. My mother’s best friend’s parents had a seafood restaurant in Washington DC and a cottage on the Chesapeake Bay and would have these giant outdoor Lake Trout fish fries. The father was the cook and would always fry me a flounder fillet so I wouldn’t have to deal with the bones! Sweet man to notice. @rotuts – it’s this stuff. In the gravy/taco seasoning/spaghetti seasoning section. Where I live, it’s mostly McCormick stuff, but that may just be our location in relation to Baltimore. On Wednesday, Jessica and I went up to visit my dad and his wife for the first time since they moved back to VA from FL. On the way home we stopped for a late dinner and break from the traffic (man, I hate driving in Northern VA) in Fredericksburg. We ate at the Mason-Dixon Café for the first ever time. I had the fish and chips: VERY good and pretty authentic – down to and including the gloppy and overly sauced slaw😁. This was a joke between Mr. Kim and me on our England trip. We were served a little side of slaw with a number of meals and it was inevitably gloppy. The only food we ate the entire trip that was subpar – including convenience store sandwiches! Jessica had the Shrimp and Grits: Which was entirely too spicy – even for her. Tasted good, though. This is an unpopular opinion, I know, but I really don’t get people using loads of hot spice and bell peppers and then spending lots of money on expensive ingredients like shrimp or crabmeat. Since the taste of such delicate things are so utterly masked in that kind of preparation, why not just use surimi? She also had the sweet potato fries, which were very good:

@Ann_T – your duck looks delicious. I need to start cooking duck at home. I don’t generally order it in restaurants because I’m embarrassed (yes, 62 years old and still not brave in the face of culinary scorn – except when it comes to spicy heat) to ask if I can get it cooked to medium or even just over medium. I cannot bear undercooked (to me) poultry. It gets in my mouth and it’s like I’m trying to chew a wad of wet paper towels. If I make it at home, I can cook it to the temperature I like – not the temperature that someone thinks I should eat it at. Tuesday: Today: I need to either start buying my rye bread at a bakery or making it myself. The commercial loaves are sliced so thin that by the time a slice gets toasted properly, it’s as crisp and Melba toast. Still tastes good, though. 😊

You can try, but I know that our Food Pantry requires everything to have a label and an expiration date. You might check to see if any local churches have Roadside Pantries (like the Little Free Libraries). We have one at our church and we aren't nearly as picky.