Kim Shook

@BonVivant – I got the book: Thank you so much for the recommendation! I’ve flipped through it and it looks wonderful. I am really looking forward to reading it after the holidays! @C. sapidus – I assume that was a crabcake sandwich? I’ve got some crabmeat in the freezer and I’m hoping to make crabcakes with it soon, if I ever cook anything but Xmas stuff! Jessica surprised me by bringing Popeye’s home for lunch yesterday:

Well, I came to ask for advice and it turns out that I didn't follow yours, @weinoo! I realized that I needed to use the Anova for my steaks and that I was running out of time already today. So I went ahead and partially steamed them in the CSO and I'll saute in butter just before I serve them. I was really pleased with how I managed to get them out of the shells without mangling them much at all: The last time I did them, they looked like the cats had gotten to them! Thank you for taking the time to advise me, @weinoo. I'll follow it next time. I have some cousins who usually send us a sizable gift card for lobsters. If they do this year, I'll be SV'ing them in January!

I've got 4 smallish lobster tails in the freezer. I'm planning to serve them alongside steaks tomorrow night for our tree trimming dinner. I want to cook them ahead of time and just gently warm them up in a pan with butter at the last minute. The last time I did lobster tails, I steamed them in the CSO and they were fine. Is this the best way? Or maybe sous vide? Thanks!!

I love the glass and mug. No worries, I’m a heathen, too. Your bread looks gorgeous. Is that a new recipe you’re making or are you just doing fancy slashes and some seeds? The cheeses look amazing – those Murray’s cheeses are two of our favorites. Are you able to get Murray’s at a local store or do you have to order it? We are so lucky that our Kroger has a Murray’s section. I assume that you heat up the breakfast burritos before you hand them out. Do you pan toast them, or just microwave? As far as breakfast ideas, how about these Breakfast Pockets? You could also make large sausage rolls (if puff pastry is too fancy, just use bread dough, or whomp crescent rolls dough 😊).

I love those. I have a few pieces that were gifts from Jessica. I first saw them in some of @CantCookStillTry's posts and thought they were charming. I asked her where she got them and she said that they had belonged to either her mother or grandmother (can't remember exactly). I found some online and put them on my Amazon wishlist. I've now got a pierced bread dish and 3 rectangular pans in graduated sizes. I use them all the time as serving dishes. Mine are white, but I love the blue. They remind me of my grandmothers' roasting pans.

This is my problem every single year! We end up eating bizarre meals in November and early December because I'm desperately trying to make space for my Christmas baking and candymaking. You'd think I'd learn! And we have 2 freezers plus the one in the refrigerator! This is my MIL and SIL. They don't decide until the last minute what they want me to bring and I'm a big planner-aheader.

@OlyveOyl – your desserts are always gorgeous and delicious-sounding, but that pear/apple/cranberry galette looks absolutely stellar! @C. sapidus – Mrs. C’s cabbage salad looks interesting – can you share the recipe? @Ann_T – I agree with you 100% about lamb shanks. I’ve always loved them. When I was a kid, my mom used to get them for my stepdad and me. They were nearly as cheap as the bones they sold for stock making (and possibly dog treating). Not anymore, but SO worth the expense. Yours look exceptional. Momma’s were a bit tough as all she did was roast them at high heat. And I’m very envious of you being able to buy the porchetta. I’ve never seen that on offer here. I’d love to try it. My poor family. THIS is what I set out as a “dinner buffet” Tuesday night 😂: I basically dumped everything that needed to be eaten or go on the counter. Various sauces and dressings, 3 ribs, turkey, sauerkraut, shrimp dip, corn dip, tots, and onion rings: Corn pudding, corn, dressing, green beans, raspberries, sweet potatoes, and Brussels sprouts: Half a sandwich, vegetable enchiladas, more green beans, gravy, mini cucumbers, and a half head of Napa cabbage: I informed them that most of whatever was left over after dinner was most likely going to be tossed. They didn’t seem too sorry for themselves. I actually ended up with a pretty good meal: Green beans, dressing & gravy, Salisbury steak and corn pudding. Plus shrimp dip and corn dip: Night before last: Salad, chili, and saltines. My FB friends were so concerned about me when I confessed that I’d enjoyed a McRib for lunch the other day that I dared not put this dinner on there: Corn dogs and BBQ Fritos 🤣🤣!

McRibs are back – a guilty pleasure for Mr. Kim and me. I got one for lunch Wednesday: I posted it on FB and people are SO disappointed in me. 🤣🤣🤣

@rotuts - I've never seen a yolk like that before! Kringles are in at TJ’s. I got an almond one. We ate a quarter of it and I froze the rest for future breakfasts: Lovely layer of marzipan in this kind: Yesterday was cheese toast with Swiss, American, and Gulden’s mustard: It looks burnt in the picture, but it was perfect. Today: ET bagel, cream cheese, and bacon.

Looks like no one has started this topic yet, so I'll go ahead. I'm WAY behind in my preparations this year. House looks like we're moving tomorrow AND that a motorcycle gang has broken in and ransacked the place. Tree is up, but nekkid. I've got the menu down, but almost no shopping done. Still have gifts to buy and all the wrapping paper is in the attic, where I can't get to it. And poor Mr. Kim is not able to be of any help because he's in budget meetings until late at night. Sigh. BUT - I've accomplished two items. The day before yesterday I made two batches of Pretzel Pecan Turtles: Will never buy these star shaped pretzels again. They look great, but over half the bag was broken. Yesterday I made my turkey gravy. Necks, seasoning, mirepoix, and a little tomato paste going into the oven to roast: Out of the oven: A couple of hours in the IP and the resulting stock: Gravy with some of the meat pulled off the necks added back in: It's a start, I guess. I need to get my timeline composed. That always helps me when I've got big projects to get done. Who else has gotten a start?

Thank you so much for letting us know, @weinoo. I've missed him here at eG - he was such a generous person and great writer.

I'm so sorry that you are going through that. It is the most damnable disease I've ever witnessed. But what a lovely gesture from your sister! Having understanding and thoughtful loved ones is a blessing.

I love these. I always have a tin or two in my pantry and my favorite ET bagels in the freezer. Makes a great meal with a little cream cheese. Thanks for the recommendation. I just put these on my TJ shopping list.

I sure do. Here you go!

Gingerbread waffle from the freezer and ham:

This is a HUGE advantage for me using SV. I love that I can hold something at temp for awhile and let the rest of the meal "catch up". At 64 years old and having cooked since I was in HS, I should be able to time all the elements of a meal perfectly. But I can't and SV helps immensely.

Absolutely - they are so good and it's nice to free up the stove top or oven space. Here you go. Keep in mind that you can adjust the sweetness by reducing the amount of brown sugar called for in the recipe. I know that my preferred sweet potato level of sweetness is too much for some folks. I'm one of those plebeians who loves the marshmallow-topped ones! 😁

Cleaning out the freezer unearthed these from a few months ago: These are made the with recipe that I got from @JohnT a few years ago. They are really, really good.

Dinner tonight was all leftovers for me – the rest of my sandwich from our lunch after church today and corn and stuffing from Thanksgiving: The sandwich was a steak and cheese.

We’ve had a few leftover whomp biscuits from me making a Thanksgiving morning casserole, so I made this for Mr. Kim for lunch a couple of days ago: Sausage and egg biscuit and berries. My lunch the same day: Cold turkey sliders with mayo and Napa cabbage. Today we had a post church lunch at our local deli, Boychik’s. It was drizzly and chilly, so matzoh ball soup seemed to be in order: I didn’t realize the picture was blurry until I uploaded it. Mr. Kim had the corned beef, pastrami, and slaw: I had the steak and cheese:

@liuzhou – So sorry that you are back in the hospital! I hope you can go home soon and continue your back recovery. Not eating breakfast much this week. I had a ham biscuit a few days ago: Just a whomp biscuit and one of those sliced, boneless ham chunks. But it was pretty good just the same.

@MaryIsobel – I hope you do try the sausage gravy. It’s like nothing else and very good. The only thing I’d add to @Shelby’s directions are to let it cook low for a few minutes after it thickens to really let the flavors get together. I do mine for about 15 minutes (VERY low). I also add a little scraping of nutmeg at the end. Side note: I have a niece who lives in Abbotsford. It looks like you probably pass right through/by there on your way to Bellingham. I love little connections like that! @Tempest63 – your blended family sounds like mine. When my father and stepmom retired to Florida, they purposely moved near where my mother and stepdad had already moved because they all were such good friends. Make it so much easier on the children. @Shelby – those scalloped potatoes look scrumptious! I love how brown and crispy you got the top. That’s EXACTLY how I’d like mine to look. Also, it looks to me like you did your quesadillas in a panini press. Is that right? I never thought to do that, but maybe I’ll get Mr. Kim to dig my press out of the attic and give it a try. @rotuts – I agree with you about the Campari tomatoes. They, along with grape tomatoes are really the only kind I’ll buy out of summer time. As I said in the breakfast and lunch threads, I’ve been MIA lately due to a lot of things, but I hope to improve my attendance 🙂. With the holidays looming, we’ll see, but I promise to try. I have been keeping up on coming and looking at the fantastic meals that everyone has been serving. I’ll show some meals that I’ve served over the last few weeks. We’ve done a LOT of eating out and take away - both with guests and on our own, so I’ve mostly left those meals out and just showing things that we’ve actually cooked. Sorry in advance for this being so long. When our Florida guests were here, I did a ham dinner. Started with some pickly stuff: Jessica made Mr. Kim’s grandmother’s tomato pickles, My NC grandma’s Easy Pickles, Jessica’s pickled vegetables, my marinated cucumbers, and some dill pickles. My SIL’s Ham w/ Brown Sugar & Pineapple: It’s a slow cooker recipe that she does a spiral sliced ham with, but I don’t like those, so I always use those Costco Master Carver hams. Fantastic. Pineapple/brown sugar sauce from the ham and @Tropicalsenior’s Gourmet Mustard: IP Green beans: Slow Cooker Candied Orange Sweet Potatoes: IP collards: Cornbread: Dessert was just purchased lemon chess tarts: Another dinner with our friends. Salad with Momofuko dressing: Spaghetti with Bolognese: Crusty bread stuffed with garlic butter: This is a upgrade of what I call “Momma garlic bread”. My mom used to buy supermarket “Italian” bread, slice it almost all the way through and stuff it with soft butter and garlic powder before wrapping in foil and baking. It had so much butter that is would literally be dripping with melted butter when unwrapped. I got a good, rustic loaf and used actual garlic, but it was VERY buttery! Spaghetti leftovers when our friends were gone – salad: Fried yellow squash: Spaghetti with Bolognese: Kielbasa, kraut, sautéed potatoes, and broccoli: Salad with ham and provolone: Steamed shrimp (from Costco): Bread and Boursin: A more recent dinner was a shortcut Instagram recipe for chicken and dumplings: It included a rotisserie chicken, chicken broth/stock (it called for a box, but since I had the bones and scraps from the rotisserie chicken, I just made a quick IP stock), canned chicken gravy, cream of onion soup (it called for cream of mushroom, which I detest), and whomp biscuits. I added Bell’s Seasoning, parsley, and lots of pepper. It was actually quite good. Served with limas, slaw, and kraut: One night Jessica made the viral Big Mac tacos and tots: Not bad – her “Special Sauce” was especially good. I had some thawed ground beef that needed to be cooked and some Spanish Rice Rice-A-Roni and thought of a dish I used to make years ago when we were first married and broke. A young girl (newly married and broke like us) I worked with gave me a recipe for this: Basically, you make the Rice-A-Roni and add some cooked ground beef. I also add some sauteed onions. I haven’t made it for years and when I tasted it after making it I was really disappointed. It just didn’t taste the way I remembered. Not nearly as good. So, I put it away and thought that we’d get through it, and I’d never make it again. I tried it the next day and lo and behold, it tasted good – the way I remember. Apparently, all it needed was to become leftovers! We did decide that next time I make it, I’ll use crushed tomatoes – we really don’t care for hot chunks of tomato. Spanish Beef & Rice, salad, and a biscuit: A tossed together dinner of the contents of our deli/cheese drawer and salads. Cheeses: Starting at 12 o’clock: Port wine & Cheddar, Boursin, Cheddar and Gouda cubes, aged Gouda, St. Agur bleu, and another chunk of Cheddar. Salami, Ham, crackers and bread: Salads: Mr. Kim’s with pickled beets and tomatoes, mine with hearts of palm, and Jessica’s with just lettuce, endive, and cucumbers (she pickled all of my carrots). Yet another meal starting with some pickly stuff: And breakfast for dinner: Panettone French toast, ham, bacon, some terrible pineapple (it was tasteless and crunchy), and cottage cheese. Used up the Momofuku dressing with this dinner. Salad: Tempura shrimp from the freezer, Spanish Rice-A-Roni, and slaw: Meals are gonna start getting weird now. We’re trying to eat from the freezer as much as possible to make room for Christmas make aheads. A couple of nights ago Jessica made sliders: Served with a bunch of leftovers and freezer stuff – baby English cukes, corn salad, pickled vegetables, mashed potatoes, and Brussels sprouts. The night before Thanksgiving was smoked pork chops, kraut, Hawaiian rolls, succotash, and Poppaw’s green beans (canned whole beans with Kraft Zesty Italian dressing that my great-grandfather used to make): Mr. Kim grew up eating smoked pork chops, but I’ve never made them (or had them that I remember). They were good – basically like a ham slice. Last night was Thanksgiving leftovers. Without: And with: Today were busy all day – unpacking Xmas decorations, packing up the stuff that is usually out, finding and bringing home the Xmas tree, etc. Mr. Kim is a budget director for the state, and this is budget season, so he had to get on the computer for meetings after that. Jessica and I went to lunch and grocery shopping. I knew I wasn’t up for cooking a big dinner and I hadn’t thawed anything. So, I decided to try the Lidl refrigerated already cooked rack of baby backs. They were surprisingly good – meaty, not overcooked, and the sauce was not overly sweet or loaded up with smoke flavoring. Served with leftover green beans, deviled eggs, fixed up canned baked beans, Brussels sprouts, and leftover mashed potatoes and gravy: OK - that's it. I'll try to do better and keep up so you aren't subjected to a billion meals at a time from me!

This is the kind of thing I was talking about. My SIL sent me home with a lot of beans since she knows they are a favorite vegetable of mine. It's so aggravating because they are otherwise SO good. Made with lots of fatty smoked pork.

Stuffing is STUFFED in the bird and dressing is cooked on the side in a casserole dish. I have NO idea why the filling was so good - but it was sweet and rich, without being cloying. And, as @rotuts says, the nuts were perfectly toasted. One thing that was different from usual is that the crust was extremely thin and VERY crisp. She is the past master at pastry, so her pie crusts are always excellent, but this was unusual.

I almost given up buying fresh green beans. They are labeled "stringless" and sure enough when trimming them, there is no string to pull off. But as soon as they are cooked it's like green dental floss. My SIL made wonderful tasting green beans yesterday and they were stringy. I'm wondering if other people had that issue or if it is perhaps a regional problem.