Kim Shook

@Katie Meadow – I’ve always been a beach vacationer, too. I grew up spending weekends and vacations at the Eastern Shore of VA and MD. The first time I ever went to the mountains was on our honeymoon. We loved it, but somehow it didn’t “stick” and we’ve never been back. Your visit sounds wonderful and I think I’d like to try it again. You’re right about the Scottish presence. The Appalachians are loaded with folks descended from Scottish and Irish immigrants. @Norm Matthews – hope you’re feeling better! @MaryIsobel – your potatoes looked MUCH better than the picture on their website. I thought theirs looked so dry. I would definitely love yours (without the fungus, of course😉). I’m not cooking a whole lot lately. I’m having some issues with day long queasiness and a lingering bad taste in my mouth. Consequently, I’m not terribly interested in eating and when I do, it tends to taste funny. Aggravating. But I am doing a little to try to keep Jessica and Mr. Kim from rioting. A few meals: Dumplings: Frozen – from Costco. Copycat Bang-Bang shrimp and stir fried snow peas and bean sprouts: The shrimp were frozen tempura shrimp also from Costco that I sauced with sweet chili sauce and Kewpie mayo. They were really large and tasted very good. Also, probably the last of the good corn this year: Another quick meal was a pizza from Food Lion. We have noticed a lot of grocery stores are stocking these now – basically Take & Bake and usually from the deli. We’ve tried a couple of them, but this was our first one from Food Lion. It was fine – better than frozen, but not as “good” as the Big Three (Dominos, Papa Johns, and Pizza Hut) and nowhere near as good as some independent places. But, still, not bad – and I didn’t have to wrestle with pizza dough: It came with pepperoni, and I added sliced onions. The photo is deceptive – it looks like a fairly thick crust, but it was actually as thin as a cracker. Served with some crusty bread that I had leftover and some tarted up Rao’s sauce: And a green salad with salami, provolone and kalamatas: One night was breakfast for dinner, by request of Mr. Kim – sausage gravy and biscuits with scrambled eggs and hash brown patties. Mr. Kim’s plate: I like my eggs tucked up under my gravy: Also sliced bananas with honey, yogurt, and a little granola: This is one of my favorite treats and one I don’t indulge in very often due to bananas and yogurt being loaded with potassium. It was fantastic! Dianne’s Garlic Shrimp with baked potatoes, salad and bread: Rice or noodles probably made more sense, but we were all craving baked potatoes! One night I put together some bits and pieces and came up with this: Mrs. Fearnow’s Brunswick stew (a local brand) and baked ham and Swiss sliders. Mr. Kim’s BBQ, fries & tots, “Italian” green beans, slaw, and some pickly stuff: Another breakfast for dinner - Country ham and egg biscuits and oranges:

So funny. Back when Mr. Kim's sister was getting married (almost 40 years ago), I put together a little family and friends cookbook pamphlet to give her. I sent a little note out requesting special recipes - especially ones that they knew she liked. Mr. Kim's grandmother was decidedly NOT a cook, but she made the family's favorite dessert - angel food cake with a caramel sauce. It was an absolute legend in the family and most of them requested it for their birthday cakes. She didn't respond to the initial request and so I called her directly and asked her. She was a little evasive, but I thought she was just busy and would send it later. I never received it and mentioned that it must be one of those "secret recipes" to their stepmom who laughed and told me that the reason it was a "secret recipe"was because she used a Duncan Hines angel food cake mix and melted Kraft caramels for the sauce. LOL

@Katie Meadow – your retreat sounds lovely! The fish and chips made me envious. I’ve been obsessed with finding great batter fried fish for a couple of months and have still not been satisfied. I agree with you 100% about those awful battered fries. I’d honestly rather just have frozen regular fries than those limp things. We are not doing restaurants this month. Retirement is looming and Mr. Kim is trying to determine what a true food budget eating at home looks like. So, instead of after church brunch out Sunday before last, I set out an assortment of stuff to nibble on while we watched football: TJ’s Unexpected Cheddar, cream cheese, cranberry Wensleydale, bologna. Gouda, and hard salami. Apple slices, red pepper jelly, honey fig spread, cocktail sauce, mandarin orange segments, and butter. Crusty bread, Ritz crackers, and Raincoast Crisps. One day, I got a craving for a Dagwood at lunchtime: Lettuce, bologna, ham, salami, Swiss, American, sweet pickles, mayo and mustard. I managed half. I knew I wouldn’t be able to eat the whole thing. I saved the other half for Mr. Kim’s dinner!

@RobertM – thanks for posting the cake recipe. I’m looking forward to trying it. Someone on Mr. Kim’s staff had a birthday last week and I made Michael Ruhlman’s angel food cake for him to take in. I didn’t remember to get a picture before he took it, but he sent me these: Served with some berries and squirty cream: This is my favorite angel food cake recipe. It uses 10 egg whites, so I’m required to make TWO batches of lemon curd afterwards 😉.

@blue_dolphin – that Croque Matthieu looks more than amazing! Any chance you could distill it into a recipe that you would share?? I am having some weird physical things happening – almost constant queasiness and bad taste in my mouth. My burning mouth syndrome is also worsening lately. So breakfast hasn’t happened much. Mostly must a piece of toast or chunk of cheese to take my medicines with. A couple to share: Toasted Lidl croissant with an egg and a surprisingly good peach: I ate the littermate of that peach this morning and had to eat it over the sink, it was so juicy. Amazing in late September! A leftover biscuit (frozen) and Diroc pork sausage links:

I love the crown you got on that cornbread. Mine never does that. Any hints?

@Ann_T – that pork chop looked so good. When we were grocery shopping last week, we walked by the pork and I remarked that we hadn’t had chops in a really long time. But I’m committed to working through the freezers so that I can start stocking them with Christmas stuff next month. @OlyveOyl – I first tasted the combination of duck and wild rice as a little girl and fell madly in love. Duck à l'Orange with wild rice was the quintessential company meal of the 1960s, so it was encountered quite often. I haven’t had it for years, but your lovely duck brought back those memories! @Shelby – big hugs from me. Your food looks wonderful, as always, but the cold stuff is calling to me today – the Greek salad and the chicken topped one especially. We’ve got house guests coming the beginning of October and I really need to get my butt in gear and yet, here I sit at the computer! Our neighbor is recovering from back surgery, so I took a quick meal over to them on Friday. Just a Costco rotisserie chicken, bagged salad and @Marlene's smashed potatoes: These are the perfect thing to take to someone – you can start them ahead of time and reheat at the last minute, but they reheat beautifully, too. This weekend I made a batch of Ruby Chicken to take to our neighbors: This is so great to take because you make it and freeze it and then it gets cooked from frozen. That way the folks you give it to can decide when they want to eat it. They can cook it right away (it takes 2 hours from frozen) or freeze it for another day. On Saturday, I was trimming some potatoes for our dinner, and I had the innards from the chicken I cooked so this was the cook’s treat: Fried chicken livers and raw potatoes 😁. Dinner was just packaged cheese fondue from Lidl and stuff to go with it. Mr. Kim found a recipe he wanted me to try – Patates Lemonates. They are basically lemony fondant potatoes (also called Melting Potatoes). Fried and ready to go in the oven: Out of the oven and ready to serve: They were delicious, but not terribly lemony. The recipe only called for the lemon juice, but I think next time, I’ll sprinkle them with the lemon zest after roasting. They were also not terribly crisp, and I wondered if it would help if I poured the lemon juice and chicken stock AROUND the potatoes rather than OVER them. All the goodies: The potatoes, Polish sausage, bread, pickled onions and cornichons, and apple slices. And there is no way to make cheese fondue look like anything but a bowl of vanilla pudding: I can’t imagine that I’ll ever bother making cheese fondue from scratch again. All three of us love this product. We also had a salad: Sunday was all leftovers – some from our church potluck earlier today and some from last week: Cheeseburger, deviled eggs, butter beans, slaw, and the last of my baked beans which have been reheated so much that they are starting to resemble Hillbilly Refried beans! Mr. Kim made pastrami, so that was dinner last night: Grilling some rye topped with Swiss: Topped with steamed pastrami, Russian dressing, Gulden’s mustard, and slaw: Served with kraut (we decided we wanted slaw on the sandwiches and kraut on the side) and @patti’s oven fries: So good. It took me two hours to finish my sandwich, but I did it! Tonight was orange chicken (frozen from Costco), frozen chicken egg rolls from a local Asian market, and fixed up Lidl fried rice:

Last Sunday we had a potluck at church. I made macaroni and cheese (no picture) and this strawberry-banana bread (cake, really) to take: These are just a cake mix fix up, but very good. Everyone always loves them and asks for the recipe. And then I have to admit that it is a strawberry cake mix with mashed bananas added! Today: Saltines and boneless, skinless sardines.

A couple of recent breakfasts: Freezer rescue ET bagel and some whipped cream cheese. This morning: Ham and egg biscuits (frozen biscuits).

I haven't yet made them, but I have always had fairly good results from ATK baking recipes.

Just a toasted Lidl croissant this morning:

I remember this episode and you're right - their obvious enjoyment alone makes you want to make the buns. I am not a huge fan of wet nuts, but I still printed out the recipe to try!

I agree! If you do the strips just pipe a long strip down the baking sheet and cut them on the sheet, but do NOT separate them. They are so tender that they will come apart easily when they are baked.

You could try that, but what I'd do - if you can - is use a piping bag. You could either use a large piping tip or just cut a 1/2-inch hole in the bottom.

@Pete Fred & @RWood - I’m just blown away by your recent contributions to this thread. @RobertM – I’m intrigued by the Philly Fluff cake! I’m finding a lot of different recipes online. Which one did you make? At a recent auction our church had to raise funds, I offered making 6 batches of cookies (every other month for a year). I did the first batch for the winner the other day. She chose Key Lime Meltaway Spritz Cookies: Couldn’t find any key lime juice, so these are just regular lime, but they are delectable. No granulated sugar – just 10X. And with the addition of cornstarch, they are so incredibly tender. A wonderful, delicate cooky.

@Dejah – your rib roast is gorgeous! And those pierogies are making me wish I had an air fryer. @Ann_T – as always, your hot chicken sandwich with gravy has me craving the same. I love that you serve it with fries – fries and gravy have been a favorite of mine since I was a young girl. I used to stop off on my way home from school at the drug store lunch counter and get an order of fries and gravy. Not comparable to yours, of course, but I never see yours that I don’t think of that experience! A couple of nights ago: Cheeseburger, celery, apple. The quickest and most simple meal I could think of. The burger was in the fridge from the other night when I had a half a pound of ground beef leftover from making Sloppy Joe filling. I fried a couple of small patties and put them in the fridge. I just microwaved the burger, added cheese and heated long enough to melt it. Added condiments and a little lettuce. Washed a stalk of celery and added an apple from the fridge. Less than 5 minutes later and I was eating. It was completely satisfying. I'll have to add cooked burgers to my list of things to keep on hand. I was surprised it was that good. Or maybe I was just that hungry?

@Captain – that’s a beautifully rolled wrap and looks delicious. Mine are always so clumsy. @Mike.12lu– that big breakfast is my favorite, too. I don’t usually have time in the mornings to do it, but we sometimes have that for dinner. I wouldn’t turn down one of those French croissants, though. One of my very favorite things! This morning: Rye toast, Fiorucci hard salami, and black grapes.

@CantCookStillTry – that lamb roast meal is gorgeous. I adore lamb and, for some reason, never seem to make it. I need to remedy that! Your Yorkies look perfect. I would 100% roll up some of that lamb into a Yorkie, drown it in gravy and TUCK IN! @btbyrd – that roast is one of the most delicious things I’ve seen in a LONG time. Between you and @CantCookStillTry, I’m now craving a roast dinner – and a roast chicken ain’t gonna cut it. I want RED MEAT! We celebrated Labor Day a day early with a potluck cookout at the home of some friends. We had brats, hot dogs, hamburgers, baked beans, slaw, potato salad, deviled eggs, chips, and purchased fudge and lemon chess pies. We simmered the brats here and took them over and I made slaw and beans. Jessica made deviled eggs. I didn’t take any pictures that day. Last night, because we had a lovely tomato that needed eating, this was dinner: Classic summer sandwich with the addition of cheese (deli American, please). Plate: Corn (we’re still getting good corn, too), sandwich, neighbor’s smoked pork belly (amazingly good), my slaw and beans – both leftover from our early Labor Day potluck.

@Tropicalsenior – those buns look amazing. I’ve copied the recipe. I don’t know if I’ll ever get around to actually making them, but thank you for the link! We actually had our Labor Day meal on Sunday. We went to our friends’ home for a potluck. Our Labor Day lunch was mostly leftovers: A hot dog with mustard and my slaw and Jessica’s deviled eggs. I also made baked beans: These did get a bit overcooked, but still tasted wonderful.

Still eating the Neuske’s bacon from the freezer. If Benton’s bacon is one right answer, Neuske’s is another. Very different, but just as good. With rye toast:

Yesterday: Toast and Neuske’s bacon. Also, a Crispin apple. We were first introduced to these apples under the name “Mutsu” when we lived in Indiana. I found it at the produce stand and will look for more. It was just our sort of apple – sweet/tart and super crisp. I also got one called a Cripps Pink – same as a Pink Lady – and that was very good, too. This morning: Toast, scrambled eggs with catsup, and NC sage sausage. And, yes, I overdid my toast a bit.

@rotuts – Look at the first picture of the belly in the container – that was exactly how he brought it over to us – already sliced. My understanding is that the belly came from our local favorite butcher (she was a winner on Chopped), and that it was brined, rubbed (no idea what he rubbed it with, but I know it had some form of sugar in it and it wasn’t too spicy) and then smoked whole and sliced. I simply fried it on both sides in a fairly hot pan in tiny bit of vegetable oil. It was cold when he brought it to us and when I asked him what I should do with it, he said to do that. I’m not sure it would be great right off the grill. Though it was leaner than it looked to me when I opened the container. I think eating it in a sandwich might depend on how thin it was sliced – these slices were about a half inch wide and I think that would have been too thick for a sandwich. @Norm Matthews – I loved the looks of your Salisbury Steaks! I’ve gone to your blog and copied the recipe! What was the other dish that wasn’t mac and cheese or peas? The one with the gravy on it? @Ann_T - the pork belly WAS good – I was especially impressed as this was the first time this guy has smoked a belly. Dinner last night started with big salads: Lettuce (with kale for Mr. Kim), various crunchy vegetables, kalamatas, salami, and provolone. We used to get a similar salad at a local pizza place. We stopped going when they stopped serving slices, so now I have to do this at home. We are still recovering from chest colds, so the salad exhausted my energy and imagination. The rest of dinner was Sloppy Joes, pickly stuff, and fresh corn:

@Ann_T – funny you should say that about toasting because the reason I do it is because I want to be able to multi-task – specifically to sit at my computer and read and respond to messages, etc. If I heat a whole croissant and tear it apart and butter the torn off bites I get flakes of pastry and butter finger marks all over the computer and the table. Slicing and toasting just makes it neater! 😊 Breakfast this morning was the end of a leftover Lidl baguette, an egg, and some Neese’s Sage Sausage from Greensboro NC: I'm appalled to be posting this right after @Ann_T's gorgeous baguettes. 😄

@heidih – I’m pretty sure you’re right about the origins of the Pupu platter – Trader Vic certainly had one on their menu. I remember being taken to the Washington DC Trader Vic as a little girl. It was a popular date spot and my newly single mom had a rule that every few dates had to include me. So I got exposed to some great restaurants in the 1960s. I’m betting that that was my first exposure to the Pupu platter. It certainly spread to Chinese-American restaurants, though. Growing up in Washington with its Chinatown and neighboring Arlington VA with a huge Asian population, I remember them being ubiquitous. @Katie Meadow – sounds like FIL was ahead of his time. I see things labeled “charcuterie boards” with everything in the world on them BUT meats. Sigh. @Honkman – your shakshuka is the first one I’ve seen that I think I would eat (I really don’t care at all for the combination of eggs and tomato). Just lovely. Our next door neighbor is, like Mr. Kim, a smoker and they have formed a bit of a friendship based on that. They bring each other samples of everything they cook. Last night he brought us his first ever pork belly effort: I sautéed it in a little oil in a nonstick pan: He had made a Korean-style BBQ sauce to go on it: This was just simply phenomenal. I can’t wait to have my second piece tonight! Since it’s still August, I’m still serving corn and tomatoes. Dinner last night was Polish sausage, sauerkraut, fried green tomatoes, regular tomatoes and corn: And iceberg lettuce with Jessica’s Creamy Dressing on it: This dressing is so good that I’m finding I like it best on just salad greens – it really shines without a bunch of other stuff.

Good Lord, @Shelby! I miss a couple of days and you make 97 meals 😉! Good stuff. Glad y’all can breathe a little better for a few days! A couple of nights ago, I made @Maggie the Cat’s Shrimp and Corn for the first time this summer. I figured I’d better get a move on while the corn is still good. So, we picked up some corn at the produce stand: And I found some Gulf of Mexico large shrimp at Lidl: Plus a bonus – this lush basil plant: Lidl sells these for $2.49 – exactly what Kroger charges for a little plastic bubble of a few leaves. This will last me a good 2 months. Finished dish: So simple and good. Maggie shared this recipe in 2010 and I’ve made it every summer since. Sometimes for us and sometimes for guests and always to rave reviews. I think of Maggie every time I make it ❤️. To me, that is one of the best things about food – the memories and people that it conjures up. Served with a salad and a baguette: Last night we went to “our place” - Yen Ching, our local and favorite Chinese restaurant. Their wonderful hot and sour: We have this everywhere, but theirs is our favorite. We shared a pupu platter: So old school, but I love all the classic Chinese-American appetizers – ribs, teriyaki beef, shrimp toast, crab Rangoon, fried chicken wings, and egg rolls. Unfortunately, this was not their best effort. Not terrible, but not as good as usual. We also shared chicken, pork, and shrimp fried rice: