Kim Shook

I grew up loving Nabisco's Social Tea cookies (weird kid) and I think they are very similar to the Kedem ones. They are still a favorite.

What a deal you got on the oysters! What size are those containers? They look small – just the size I need for our Christmas dressing. And oyster stew…❤️❤️❤️. Sorry the brittle candies aren’t great – peanut brittle is a favorite of mine.

@MaryIsobel – I agree about the ravioli – I’m sure that the commercial ones would hold up much better than home made ones, but the ones in the grocery stores are so small. Do you, by any chance, have a fresh pasta shop near you? Because I’m betting that their raviolis would be larger. @Shelby – thank you for thinking of me. It actually turned out to be a good and not terribly crazy day. I got to stay in my pajamas until after the dog show, Jessica made a great breakfast with very little assistance, and, as you’ll see below, dinner turned out very well. And we only ate an hour later than I originally planned😄. Everything you posted on the 24th looks great, but I really, really, really want that broccoli beef! @Duvel– I love the koala bear bologna. @Margaret Pilgrim – fig and prosciutto pizza sounds perfect. Everyone’s Thanksgiving meals look fantastic and make me wish I’d made gravy instead of “sauce”. Last Monday I did steaks in an iron skillet instead of SV for the first time in forever: Mr. Kim and Jessica prefer them this way, so I guess this is how they’ll be cooked now. It was a quick dinner, so the sides were minimal – apple slices, winter creamed corn (frozen tube of creamed corn and frozen corn – slowly heated with no water), marinated cucumbers, and crusty rolls: The next night – from the sublime to the ridiculous😄: Wensleydale cheese with strawberries and Prosecco, crackers, and cheese-laden Kirkland hot dogs. A little Thanksgiving prep the day before - I boned and rolled a turkey breast. I was really happy with the results: This was my first-ever time doing it and I thought I did a good job. I also made one batch of my Cinnamon Pecans to top sweet potatoes for dinner the next day: Thanksgiving dinner – I did the turkey breast (with a lemon/thyme rub) in the IP and browned under the broiler: I was very happy with the results but noted that next time I should be careful to not tuck the skin into the roll – I ended up with some unpleasant flabby skin inside. I served it with a citrus sauce rather than a gravy. I thought with the lemon/thyme seasoning on the turkey and the fruit in Jessica’s dressing, it would be more suitable: I’ve made it before and liked it, but this time it was very bland – and not just to me. Don’t know if it was the quality of the limes and oranges or what, but I tossed it after dinner. The sides were shared between all of us, with Jessica doing a lot and quite well. Mr. Kim did (well, set out 😄) the relishes: My cranberry orange sauce and @Shelby’s cucumbers. Pickle/olive dish and pimento cheese stuffed celery: I confess that I didn’t make the pimento cheese, but I did buy a brand that is made in NC near where I grew up every summer of my childhood. It is not as good as Miz @racheld’s homemade, but it was a good memory. Jessica’s Challah dressing with dried apricots, golden raisins, and cherries; corn casserole; deviled eggs; mac and cheese: The mac and cheese was some of the best stuff we’ve ever had. It needs a few tweaks – mostly volume as the ingredients make at least twice as much sauce as is needed. But this was seriously the best mac and cheese I’ve ever had. Jessica found the recipe on Youtube and had to transcribe it from the video – something that I just will not do. If I see a recipe and the only description is verbal, I just pass it by. Life is too short. But she proved me wrong. I still won’t transcribe from a video, but I’m glad she did😁. One of the most awesome things about this recipe is how good the leftovers are. No curdling or toughness. I provided the rest of the side dishes and the dessert. Green beans (southern style) and sweet potatoes with Cinnamon pecans to top them with: The sweet potatoes are candied and done in the slow cooker. It had never occurred to me to do them that way until I saw Ree Drummond do it on TV. It was nice to free up oven space, and they were delicious. Plates: Dinner last night was a plate of most of the side dishes from Thanksgiving (my favorite part of the meal):

Jelly doughnut and oatmeal raisin cooky - both from Lidl: The doughnut is good, but that cooky is fantastic. I make good oatmeal raisin cookies, but theirs is just better.

@Raamo – love the looks of those fried potatoes! We were out looking for a Xmas tree on Friday and we stopped for lunch at Five Guys: I guess I have different criteria for hamburgers than most others because we really like Five Guys. Their fries are excellent (like the boardwalk fries I grew up with) and we like flat smashed griddle patties. After church brunch at Sunday at our local pharmacy cafe. Egg and sausage breakfast for me: Greek omelet for Mr. Kim: And we shared some pancakes: Lunch yesterday was leftover meat sauce and pasta:

@Steve Irby - those biscuits look gorgeous! I’ve never had cane syrup (I don't think it's a VA/NC thing), but I’ve seen it at Publix and will by some next time I’m in there. Jessica made breakfast Thanksgiving Day: She called this “Trashy Benedict” and it was fantastic. Hash brown patties, Edwards country ham, poached eggs, and blender hollandaise. She also made her wonderful pineapple casserole: The day after Thanksgiving: Eggs and stuffed celery are leftovers from the day before. This morning: The last of the Thanksgiving Sister Schubert rolls bake/steamed to crispy/tenderness in the CSO and the beginning of decent oranges in the stores!

Well just imagine my delight when I come to this thread and see that one of my posts has lured the lovely Miz @racheld out of eG retirement! And, I have to say that if I had the opportunity of being in your house, I wouldn’t give a dern WHAT it looks like – I would just revel in the company of @caroled, Kathy, Miss O and your dear self! @kayb – I’ve copied the information about the coconut cake and will be trying it after the holidays. Thank you so much for posting them. @gulfporter – those sweet potatoes are absolutely gorgeous! They remind me of the ones that we get at our favorite Central American restaurant. Theirs are drizzled with what appears to be sweetened condensed milk, but the potatoes themselves look the same. SO good. @Orbit– apparently, you can make cute deviled egg chicks when they are cut that way 😁. @Wait. Wot – love that you make stuffing! We love stuffing, but almost never make it anymore since we tend to make “parts” rather than a whole bird. My mother and I used to joke that a turkey was just a really expensive cooking vessel for stuffing. I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I find myself in two camps – I do feel nostalgic for a family and friend filled holiday and confess to feeling a bit hurt when no invitations were forthcoming from close family. But, as crazy and stress-filled as the run up to last week has been, I found myself quite grateful that it was just the three of us this year. Jessica was pretty good about getting her food done without needing me to completely rescue her. All the food was delicious and we’re still eating leftovers.

I made a Heart of Dixie pecan pie for Thanksgiving: Touch of bourbon, cocoa crust, and both chopped and halved pecans. Slice: It tasted good and was popular with Mr. Kim and Jessica (I'm more a cake than pie girl), but I thought there was a problem with the texture. It seemed both under and over cooked to me. As you can see, it was too runny in the middle, but the texture of the majority of each piece was almost scrambled eggy rather than that gorgeous glacé texture perfect pecan pies get. It is cooked at 350F for 45 minutes. Any ideas for improvement?

Bumping this up to ask a question. I have in my possession a packaged Xmas pudding - like this. It is in a pudding bowl, covered, and sealed in thick plastic. The directions say to steam in a saucepan (still sealed) for 1 1/4 hours. Should it be on a rack, or should it just sit in the steaming water? How many inches of water for that amount of time, do you think. Also - does anyone, by some chance, have any experience in doing this in the IP? Thanks!

And no microwave!

Now that I think of it, all of the various fried chicken sandwiches have pickle slices on them and there is even a rumor out there that Chick-fil-A brines their chicken in a brine that includes pickle juice. So...

Oh, my. I would have been all over those vintage Xmas ornaments. And irritated my husband on the rest of the trip nagging him to "DRIVE CAREFULLY". 😄

Hi, @lady_c_makes! Welcome to eG! I think you'll find lots of folks here that share in your interests! Looking forward to your posts!

Yesterday we attended church and lunch with Mr. Kim's dad and stepmom to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Restaurant was a Greek/Italian neighborhood place we've been going to since before we were married! Mr. Kim still goes every month for our church's men's breakfast and we go every so often when he wants spaghetti and I want pastichio 😁. Only got a picture of my plate this time - I got the Greek appetizers: Pita, hummus, dolmas with lamb, tiropita, and spanikopita.

I think, like mac and cheese, that it must be a southern US thing. We had both with every festive meal at my grandparents in NC. Everyone has different needs and ways of doing things. I’m 62 years old and I’ve never owned a real roasting pan. I use the disposable aluminum ones for mixing and holding stuffing/dressing, for roasting the turkey necks and vegetables to make my stock for gravy. I rarely roast a whole turkey anymore, but when I have, I've used the same aluminum pans. And, yes, I put it right on the stove top and deglaze with white wine and a silicone spatula. I use them for oven ribs and for mixing huge amounts of potato salad and slaw. Mr. Kim uses them to collect mountains of BBQ while we are picking apart a pork butt. They line the refrigerator when we’re thawing large roasts and poultry. We wash the ones that aren’t too icky and we thankfully toss the sticky, baked on goo ones that are WAY too icky.

Here you go!

I think it's smart not to have a big plan when you don't know what's going to happen with your dad! I've been thinking about you!

@Dante – beautiful stuffie! I need to learn to make my own because I detest spice heat and bell peppers and every single stuffie I’ve encountered has one or the other or both in them. @gfweb – those scallops are absolute perfection! @Shelby – thank you for the link to the stuffed cabbage recipe. Also, I cannot believe how gorgeous your tomatoes still are! @Tropicalsenior – Jessica was thrilled to see that her pineapple casserole is a favorite! @KennethT – not @liamsaunt, but I know a good trick for removing the central tendon from the chicken tenderloins. @Anna N – your sheet pan meal looks delicious, especially the onions, which I keep going back to look at! @Norm Matthews – that casserole looks fantastic! I went right to your blog and got the recipe! Hope to make it soon! We are still in the midst of getting Jessica’s old apartment ready for inspection. She and her kitties are here at our house, but now the clean up is the project. I work over there until I’m about to drop and then grab dinner somewhere that’s open late. So, there are not a lot of home cooked meals in the last couple of weeks since I posted last. One night Mr. Kim requested brats: With hard rolls, fixed up Kraft, and Brussels sprouts: Dessert was the apple pie that my MIL brought: She is normally an excellent baker, but unfortunately this was not one of her best efforts. She used WAY too much demerara sugar on the top and the pie was so watery that the bottom crust basically reverted to raw pastry. Also, the apples were very uneven – some were lovely and tender, but others were distinctly crunchy. One night I tried a new recipe that was recommended by some friends. It’s a slow cooker recipe that consists of just chicken, stuffing mix, cream of…soup, water, sour cream and frozen green beans: Plated: It looks like the dog’s dinner but was actually really good and just what was needed after a long day. It needed a little work – more stuffing mix and poultry seasoning we thought. The original recipe called for frozen green beans, which we detest, so I used whole canned ones. I was worried that doing them for the same amount of time would make them into utter mush, but they were fine. Served with some raw veggies (this was an I barely tried meal): Jessica’s best friend came over to help Jessica put her bed platform together. We had sandwiches and sides. Mortadella, turkey, ham, and salami: Bread and rolls: Various cheeses: The unwrapped ones look tacky, but I wanted them to last longer in case no one chose them. Tuna salad and condiments: Pickle-y stuff: Fruit: And what we call “chippy dip”: Dessert was various pastries from the Lidl baking case. On Monday, I got a taste for Chicken Parm sandwiches. Family concurred. Buttered, toasted rolls: Fried chicken paillards with mozzarella (the Parm was in the panko coating): Served with an “Asian” salad kit and toasted cheese ravioli:

Well, I've got one thing done. The plus is that I made enough to stick into the freezer for Christmas dinner, too: Fresh cranberries, OJ, orange zest, and dried cranberries.

I love fried green tomatoes - they are the perfect way to use up end of season, ain't never gonna ripen tomatoes. @Shelbyis right, though - even the tiniest speck of red ruins them for frying. Might be ok for a green tomato pie, though. I've found that big city restaurants - especially those that say they serve "New South" food - aren't the place to find good FGTs. You need to get out in the country to a cafe in a small southern town. Or a soul food restaurant or, best of all, a church that serves a Gospel lunch.

Welcome to eG, @The other Sven! I'd say you have found your people! There are so many chocolatiers here (I am not one of them - just an admirer)! I'm looking forward to your contributions.

In my mind, those cakes are the product of Sysco and come frozen and are just toasted somehow. The really good loose ones are fresh grated or at least not frozen and fried on a flat top. To me they taste so much better than the cake ones - especially with some onions.

Welcome to eG, @isabella76! Can you tell us a little bit about what you are interested in foodwise and where you are in the world.

One more - this morning: Scrambles with cheese and catsup.

@Ann_T – Of all the folks at eG that Mr. Kim has proposed to, I think you are the one that he’s proposed to most often. And I think that Sticky Toffee Pudding has sealed the deal. That is his absolute favorite dessert and yours was the most gorgeous one we’ve ever seen😄! Brunch after church last Sunday at our new favorite “diner” (Southern style – so no train car atmosphere). Mine: Hash browns, cheesy scrambled eggs, biscuit, and chicken fried steak (which needed a heftier crust) and gravy on the side. Jessica’s: Eggs Benedict and hashbrowns. Mr. Kim got the big burger and fries: Jessica, who prefers her food not to touch, shivered at what I call my fork casserole😄: I told her she was crazy since her Benedicts were the same thing I had – bread, meat, egg, sauce.