Kim Shook

@BonVivant – those tahini coils look wonderful and sound like something I’d love. I’m a big fan of tahini. We had house guests over the 4th of July weekend. Our first ones in over a year. On Saturday we took them into the city for lunch. We ate at a place we end up at often – Salt & Forge. One friend had the turkey and blackberry sandwich: Herb-roasted turkey, blackberry-serrano jam, Brie, crispy shallots, arugula, honey whole wheat. His wife and I had the Brisket: Madiera & caramelized onion braised brisket, Gruyère fondue, crispy shallots, whole grain mustard, arugula, baguette. Mr. Kim the Posto: Soppressata, capicola, mortadella, country ham, fresh mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, red onion, arugula, red wine vinaigrette, baguette. Jessica had the Chicken, Bacon, Ranch: Chicken breast (crispy), bacon, buttermilk ranch, pickles, lettuce, tomato, red onion, brioche. We then did a little wandering around in the Scott’s Addition neighborhood and stopped in at the Black Heath Meadery. We shared a couple of flights and one glass: The glass was “Living Reflection” – tangerine with a hint of honey. The flights included “Blue Angel” – pink lady apple juice and honey, “Sour Cherry” – traditional mead with Balaton and Montmorency cherries and sour tonic, “Respect the Elders” – a blend of two berry meads. Black currant, black raspberry, blackberry, and elderberry, fermented with orange blossom and Zambian wildflower honey (this was the BEST), “Ginger” – traditional mead with baby ginger, and “Double Barrel Pecan End of the Wait” – bourbon barrel aged honey conditioned on smoked pecans then aged an additional six months in Reservoir bourbon barrels. Mead is lovely. So mellow and comforting – it was unseasonable cool, so it suited the day. We were kept company by their most important employee, Otis: Then on to the Blue Bee Cidery. Possibly we did it backwards. Considering the fact that I’m not wild about wine, these two stops could have been designed for me. Instead of a flight, we got individual glasses. Blackberry Ginger cider two ways – chilled: And frozen: Friday was my birthday. I introduced Jessica to a favorite “ladies who lunch”-type place that Mr. Kim and I eat at a lot called Lulu Belles. Jessica had the Estelle: Roasted turkey, fig jam, Granny Smith apples and brie, wheat with sesame noodles and street corn The sandwich was MUCH better than the picture indicates, and the sesame noodles were great – not too much sesame oil. I had the ham, cheese, and apple quiche with side salad: Quiche was great, but the standout was the crust – it was crisp and flaky and delicious. Today Jessica and I ended up having lunch at a new place across the river called the Brickhouse Diner. We shared the tots with cheese and bacon: She had the fried shrimp and baked potato: The shrimp were wonderful and perfectly cooked. Can’t remember the last time I saw a foil wrapped baked potato, though. I had a very good house made gyro and very ordinary onion rings:

@blue_dolphin - that is some seriously gorgeous focaccia! @Ann_T – I have been craving steak for about 2 weeks now. That picture isn’t helping! 😁 We had houseguests for the first time in over a year over the 4th of July weekend. On the first day they were here, I just picked up two of the giant pastries from our neighborhood doughnut shop. An apple fritter and an iced strawberry filled one. They were enormous: That is my 2nd largest platter. The apple fritter was literally the size of my head. They were also really good. Even a couple of days later, we still had them and were picking off nibbles. They really stayed fresh a LOT longer than doughnuts do. On Saturday, we went for a fairly early lunch, so I set out some bagels in case anyone needed sustenance before we got to lunch: Breakfast on the 4th was Croissants ala Plancha with various preserves: This is simply day-old croissants split and fried in butter. You press them down as cook and they get thin and crisp and MUCH greater than the sum of their parts! Served with Benton’s bacon and fruit: Before our guests got here, I made mini quiche Lorraine and froze them. Those and croissants and fruit were breakfast on Monday: I somehow forgot to get a picture of the quiche, but they look like this: 😄 On Tuesday, I took our friends to the airport. Breakfast before that: Olive cream cheese on a pumpernickel bagel. Thursday: The deviled eggs were leftovers from 4th of July. Saturday: Nectarine, IP eggs, my MIL’s lovely, award-winning yeast rolls. Yesterday was an omelet: with leftover mornay sauce and some deli ham. Served with an ET bagel from the freezer and a nectarine:

It wasn't quite that dark. Or thick. It really was as if the actual cream/milk for the custard had been caramelized.

@MaryIsobel – that is a gorgeous pie! I am a big fan of juicy, gooey blueberry pies and that looks just about perfect. @blue_dolphin – lovely little grapefruit loaves. I’m not a fan of eating grapefruit or drinking the juice, but I love most grapefruit desserts. I have a recipe for a slow-cooker grapefruit cheesecake that is really good believe it or not and I love that. @Darienne – I’m sorry that you are having to do such a restricted diet right now and I hope it doesn’t last beyond the 8 weeks, but thank you so much for posting those cooky sticks. I have a niece that has to have GF and I’m thrilled to have a recommended recipe from someone I trust - anyone who gave me that toffee recipe has my complete trust. BTW – speaking of which, we found a little box of it in the freezer forgotten since Xmas. Other than being slightly softer than fresh, it was still delicious. We had our first houseguests for 4th of July weekend. For dessert on the 4th, I did the frozen fruit and cornmeal cobbler that @blue_dolphin made. I used some purchased frozen blueberries and peaches that I got from the produce stand and froze: I messed up with the cobbler topping and didn’t realize it until it took forever to get done in the oven. The recipe calls for a 13x9-inch pan. I used a smaller, deeper pan. I should have NOT used all of the topping – it was much too thick on top of the fruit. We also thought that the cobbler topping needed more sugar. But it was good and easy to make. I got everything ready before dinner and added the liquid to the topping after dinner and put it in the oven. By the time we were ready to eat, it was done and still beautifully warm:

Jessica and I went by a local Latino bakery/Paleteria just before the 4th to get some treats for when our weekend company was here and we got this pastry to share: It was custard filled and had a great crust. They could have been a little more generous with the custard, but it was lovely, smooth custard with an almost caramelized flavor. It was our first time at this place and we will definitely be back.

Hi, @DaveCee and welcome to eGullet. Based on that lovely bread, I'm very much looking forward to your contributions!

Candied figs. Easy and delectable.

I have to confess that chocolate chips cookies are not my favorites. Weird, I know. That said, they were very good and it's all about the chocolate, I think. Using really good dark/bittersweet chocolate chunks is very important. My husband and daughter LOVE them.

Painters tape just curls up and falls off in the freezer for me. Never had a problem with masking tape.

I know Mr. Kim and Jessica were watching. I watched the first one (I'm not a fan of competition shows) because of hometown girl Brittanny Anderson. We love her restaurants and Jessica is a casual acquaintance of hers. I think she lasted 3 episodes.

I have a couple of them in one of my counter top utensil holders all the time. Also masking tape to mark things like glass.

I love that. Interesting what was considered "children's food" in those days. LOL

Due to COVID we had postponed celebrating Jessica’s January birthday dinner until our favorite dim sum place in Wheaton MD – Hollywood East – reopened. The restaurant itself is not available for seating, but they’ve put tables out in the mall. You order using a QRcode and they bring it to your table all masked up. It was the three of us and Jessica best friend. Every single thing was delicious. Golden Roast Pork Buns: Inside: Baked Roast Pork Croissants: Shrimp Rice Noodle Crepes: These look so bland and ordinary, but they were full of perfectly cooked shrimp and really fantastic. Deep Fried Shrimp & Pork Dumplings: I thought these were the best thing on the table. The crust was amazing – flaky, tender, crisp. Shrimp Toast: The best shrimp toast I’ve ever had. Steamed Chives & Shrimp Dumplings: Chicken Ginger Dumplings: Sticky Rice Sautéed with Chinese Sausage: Bacon Rolls Stuffed with Minced Shrimp: These were probably tied for the best things on the table. Then came the dessert dim sum. Egg Custard Tarts: Baked Custard Buns: These had a lovely craquelure topping that I hadn't seen before. I thought they were the best of the dessert-type dim sum we had. Deep Fried Sesame Balls with Lotus Paste: Amazing texture and flavor. Steamed Red Bean Buns: Mr. Kim had given up by this point and these were the only things that got a big NOPE from Jessica and me. Her friend liked it, but we didn't care for the flavor of the red bean paste at ALL. We all wished that we had a similar restaurant in Richmond. Yesterday I was alone in the house for the first time in ages. So, this was lunch: Saltines and smoked oysters. It looks awful – even to me – and Mr. Kim hates the smell. But it was wonderful.

@mgaretz – I am a big fan of tuna/egg salad on toasted rye! I used to always keep a covered bowl of one or the other in the fridge for lunches and for when I didn’t feel like cooking dinner. I need to get back to that. And your ribs were beautiful. I have my fingers crossed for Mr. Kim’s attempt at them on the 4th. Dinner Saturday night: Fried eggs on buttered muffins and fries & tots. And, honestly, this was the least junkie thing we’ve done for dinner in ages. Fern bar food, cereal, canned soup, etc. We’re getting ready for house guests coming Thursday night, so meals are catch as catch can right now. Tonight: Pork schnitzel (from Aldi) and egg noodles with a cheat pan sauce of jarred gravy, shallots, cream, Dijon, lemon juice, and butter. Roasted beets (from precooked vacuum-packed beets) with lemon pepper. And corn (improving, but still not tasting like real summer corn):

@liuzhou – I’ve also woken up wanting bacon! Yesterday - Grilled ham, cheese, and egg sandwich. Today - ET bagel and bananas with honey.

Hi, @Robbie2000! I'm in VA, too (Richmond area). We have some truly gifted chocolatiers here (I'm not one of them😁) and I know you'll get all the help you want. Welcome to eGullet!

Personally, I actually live in the first world with all of its attendant petty problems. I like getting a little attention now and then.

@Duvel – the Turkish bread looks wonderful. Great texture. @Norm Matthews – great looking bakery products! I would have a hard time staying away from those! Wednesday night dinner started with salad: Followed by spaghetti with meat sauce: This was amazingly good for being such a short cut. It was ground beef and Rao’s sauce with dried onions (didn’t have any fresh and didn’t want to go out), garlic, and Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset herb blend simmered for about 90 minutes. Served with garlic bread: A dear HS friend turned up in Richmond driving to MD and we went to dinner at one of our favorite Greek restaurants in town. Apricot, ricotta, goat cheese, almonds, and balsamic reduction: Baked feta with spicy honey walnuts: I’d never had this as I always want the fried kasseri, but it was excellent! I got my first soft shell since June of 2019: It was on top of a nice salad with a lemon vinaigrette. A perfect softshell with a thin, brittle crust. Mr. Kim got the salmon puttanesca: My friend got the pork souvlaki: Jessica got a special that was fried oysters and prosciutto-wrapped monkfish: Those are little cucumber spheres and a corn salad with Romesco sauce – a Modernist maque choux😉.

Lapping myself on the breakast topic again, I see. Most important meal of the day, folks 😁! Thursday was ham, egg, and cheese on an English muffin: Yesterday – as you can see, we’re not out of English muffins yet: Served with what is probably my penultimate spoonful of Little Scarlett strawberry preserves until the Tiptree fairy makes a visit.

Exactly!

What bakery are these from? Asking for a friend (LOL - probably first time in history that sentence was true).

My best friend, who I've known since high school has just bought a vacation/retirement home on the Cape. They live in Sudbury MA and the house is on the Outer Cape - within striking distance of both Wellfleet and P'town. She has friends who have already bought houses there and they have vacationed there a lot in the past few years, so she knows a bit about the area. I told her about this topic and she was very interested. I'm going to go back and do some copying and pasting and send her some info. So, I'll be paying attention to this topic, but not posting.

@Ann_T – I adore snails, but haven’t ever made them at home. How do you get them? Canned is the only way I see them. Many years ago when we lived right outside of Washington DC, I used to find them at the fish counter all prepped – stuffed into shells with garlic butter. You just bought as many as you wanted and baked them. But I haven’t seen them like that in years. @alwaysdrawing – steak, baked potato, and broccoli. Such a classic, satisfying and delicious meal. @Shelby – I’m so glad that you treated yourself. You deserved it! On Father’s Day I took some of that Hot Bacon & Swiss dip to my SIL’s. She was having a Father’s Day dinner and we dropped by for a visit before going to our dinner. My skinny in-laws stood around and devoured the double batch. For Father’s Day dinner, Mr. Kim picked the Bavarian Chef, a German restaurant just north of Charlottesville VA that we’ve been going to since he was in grad school at the University of VA in the late 1980s. My mom and my (now 37 year old) daughter in front of the sign all those years ago: Mr. Kim’s giant pretzel: Jessica’s Cream of Wild Mushroom Soup: I had what I always have as my starter: Snails in Beer Batter “Provincial” – basically snail fritters in garlic butter. Divine. Mains – I had the jumbo scampi with crabmeat stuffing: Jessica had the Vegetarian Portabella Schnitzel - Handbreaded portabella mushroom smothered with gouda served over Spätzle: This was, sadly, a real miss. Soggy mushrooms and tomato. The cheese was WAY too thick. Just bad execution. Mr. Kim had the Father’s Day special: Pork schnitzel, beef sausage (like a rustic kielbasa – very good), filet of beef and another soft pretzel on top. Wish the server had told us that and that Mr. Kim’s and my mains came with ample portions of whipped potatoes so we could have chosen something different for our side dishes. The sides are served family style and you get to choose one more than the number in your party. We got red cabbage, whipped potatoes, creamed corn, and German potato salad: Everything (except for the miss on the mushroom) was excellent, as always. I've never been to Germany, so I don't have a clue if its authentic, but it is delicious! Last night was chicken cutlets from the freezer and leftover sides from Father’s Day dinner: Sides were German potato salad, red cabbage, and sauerkraut (some whipping potatoes invaded that). Along with tomatoes and sweet potato rolls from the freezer:

Happy Birthday to Mr. @chefmd! @blue_dolphin – Like @heidih, I’m finding myself enamored of that coconut! @Ann_T – that is one perfect looking poached egg. And what is better than eggs on toast and SUCH toast🥰! Monday: English muffin with egg and cheese and bacon. Yesterday: ET bagel with smoked salmon cream cheese, scrambled eggs, apple slices. This morning: English muffin swimming in butter, Havarti, and hard salami.

These were so fresh. Super crisp, but not hard like the gas station ones can be!