Kim Shook

Mothers are quite good at making exceptions to their own rules.

Here's the one for the dip. I don't have Jessica's recipe for the pineapple (though I do have a few others - pineapple casserole is popular in the South), but I'll pass it on as soon as I get it from her.

@CantCookStillTry – your McMuffins made me want one right now. I actually took some sausage out of the freezer a few minutes ago! I wonder why they are beef instead of pork in Australia. @Ann_T – I know I’ve said before that an open-faced chicken sandwich with gravy is one of my all-time favorite meals. I’m seeing this in my near future! @liuzhou – those crustaceans are amazing. They are the size of the lobster tails I’ve been seeing for $4.99 each. @Dante – you reminded me of a NC saying that I haven’t thought of in years with the same meaning as your dad’s: “Not enough to smell of.” 😄 I'm sorry, but I’ve been neglectful and now there are tons of dinners to post! Memorial Day was our first time entertaining anyone outside of our bubble except for having Mr. Kim’s (vaccinated) mom over for Mother’s Day. We had Jessica’s friend over and did a little mini potluck. All 4 of us have been vaccinated and none of us have been spending any time with other folks for the past year anyway! I provided the pre-dinner snacks. Herbed cheese spread, smoked salmon cream cheese, ET bagel chips, and those throw-back Ranch dressing oyster crackers: And Hot Bacon & Swiss Cheese Dip, crackers, and grapes: Mr. Kim smoked Cornell chicken (Cornish hens, actually): Anyone who grew up in the 1960s and 1970s (and perhaps earlier and later) going to the Delaware/Maryland/Virginia eastern shore knows Cornell Chicken. If they were like us, they just called it “Beach Chicken”. Men’s clubs and church groups would have these huge tents on the side of the road with concrete block pits set up with metal grates across them. Chicken halves would be cooked on top of the grates and mopped with a thin sauce made of vinegar and oil and maybe an egg from the recipes that I’ve found. It was the best smell in the world and a confirmation that you were really headed to the beach! Jessica made her pineapple casserole and a salad: Her friend did mac n cheese: My plate: Everything was really good. I did dessert – Roasted Strawberry and Cream Cheesecake: Last Tuesday was White People Taco Night😄: Refried beans: Chips and cheese dip: My plate with the most ridiculously narrow taco shells: You could barely get anything inside. Next time, I buy the square bottomed ones. Friday night was nachos from White People Taco Night leftovers: On Saturday, Mr. Kim was in NC judging a BBQ competition. I had leftover frites from lunch out and an ET bagel with smoked salmon cream cheese: The “We can eat in restaurants again…let’s have the trashy stuff we’ve been craving” tour continued with Hooters on Sunday. We shared the soft pretzels and beer cheese: Mr. Kim’s Half and Half Wings – Hot Buffalo Sauce and Spicy Garlic Sauce with Bleu Cheese dressing: Garlic wings looking mighty dry, huh? They were. Ended up being merely deep-fried wings – no sauce. And the dressing was Ranch🙄. Because it wouldn’t be Hooters without some kind of f#*k up. The last time we were there I sat in a giant cup’s worth of drink that Mr. Kim spilled on me for 20 minutes waiting for the twits to bring me some towels. They fixed the wings when he brought her attention to it, but we never got Blue Cheese dressing. My BBQ sauce wings: The wings really were good, which is why we put up with the BS. We visited the produce stand Sunday, so yesterday it was time to start the summer cukes: Spring onions and pickling cukes. With pepper and Splenda: And vinegar: These will be tasted over the next few days to adjust pepper and Splenda amounts. Monday night dinner started with a salad: If all raw onions tasted like those spring onions, I would never object to them. Sloppy Joes on slider buns from a local bakery, the last of Jessica’s pineapple casserole, and @patti's oven fries: Tough, sad corn on the cob: Dessert was just strawberries with whipped cream (canned, but real) for dipping: Yesterday I made a dinner to take to some new parents in our congregation at church. It needed to be Gluten Free and Dairy Free and since the baby has been colicky, they requested no onions, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, etc. Took some ingenuity to come up with a meal and I screwed something up. Herb Roasted Pork Tenderloin w/ Fig Sauce. Coated and ready for the oven: Roasted and sauced: Roasted green beans with lemon zest, toasted almonds, and Mr. Kim’s fresh parsley: This was the screw up: Pineapple-glazed carrots. I had a brain fart and plopped in two tablespoons of butter instead of the coconut oil I’d bought. So, Mr. Kim has pineapple-glazed carrots for his vegetables for the week. I had also bought a Basmati/Wild Rice mix, so the meal didn’t seem short, I’m sure. Dessert was Chocolate Pecan Pie Bars: They were actually pretty good. Not sneak-into-the-kitchen-to-grab-another-one-good. But, for what they were, pretty good. I made enough of the tenderloin for us to have some, too. Mr. Kim’s plate with those damn carrots and more of @patti's oven fries:

Thanks. That worked. I'll give it a try next batch!

I got a paywall.

They tested a whole bunch of methods and this was the favorite. They even say that the washing seems counterintuitive. Can't argue with the method so far. I've used it a few times since last year.

Made a gluten and dairy free dessert for some new parents in our church congregation yesterday: The bottom layer was made up of dates, pecans, coconut oil, and salt. The chocolate layer is cocoa, coconut oil, and maple syrup. Then some of that top layer that is held back is sprinkled over the cocoa layer. The flavor was quite good, but they are very crumbly and have to stay in the fridge until you serve them. I will certainly make these again for my GF friends and family. I think they would be good with a scoop of ice cream.

Sorry! 1 part white vinegar, 3 parts water. Swish the strawberries around for a minute. Drain and dry well. Place on paper towel lined container and loosely cover. It's the best method I've tried. Found the method on thekitchn.com last summer.

Absolutely! I'm talking about the "professionals" who say it ALL THE TIME and make such a big deal out of their inability to pronounce it. @Raamo – Happy Birthday 🤡! Hope it was wonderful. Having after-church lunch IN the restaurant is back for us!!! Sunday before last – Mr. Kim’s club: The Swiss cheese was unusual, but it was good! With potato salad. I had the open faced turkey sandwich, butter beans (canned – yuck) and fantastic spoonbread: Last Tuesday - lunch at our favorite drug store lunch counter. I had tuna on rye with cheese: Mr. Kim had the Italian sub: On Saturday Jessica and I had lunch at our favorite French brasserie. Croque Madam for her and a Monsieur for me: And piles of frites for both of us. Bite from leftovers at home - just so you can see that lovely ham:

Made a roasted strawberry cheesecake last week and one of Mr. Kim's co-workers offered to trade a slice for a couple of Mennonite food truck doughnuts she'd picked up that morning: They are as big as my head and the best in town. Picked up a quart of strawberries from the produce stand on Sunday and we've been snacking on them all week: I used the vinegar/water dunk method when I got them home and so far they are just fine. They were VERY ripe.

I grew up with people who would absolutely say that very thing. And, of course, @Shelby and I say that about people who don't peel their tomatoes. 🤣🤣🤣

This morning: Which seemed full of low-fat, healthy choices until I started buttering the English muffin. It is impossible to put less than one tablespoon of butter on one muffin. And, seriously? Who would want to?😄

Another plus is that they can be used in the CSO, which is exactly why I've started collecting them. The sizes that will fit into the CSO aren't too heavy for me, even full and I have terrible arthritis.

Not sure. Though I do notice that the other versions of Thin & Crispy (various chocolate chips) are easier to find in stores than the Butter Pecan.

The more I look at this picture, the more I believe that my mom did have that knife. Thanks! The whole family loved Cutco and was very loyal to their products. I don't have any of the knives, but still have her complete set of wooden handled utensils - potato masher, slotted spoon, carving knife, etc.

The women in my (Italian-American) family often expressed surprise that more husbands weren't found with butcher knives between their shoulder blades.

@Shelby and @MokaPot - It tasted really good. Roasting the strawberries makes them so deeply flavored. It was just the texture.

Game. None of the men in my family (even the ones who lived in the country) hunted, so I didn't have venison or boar until a few years ago when one of Mr. Kim's co-workers gave us some. My mother worked in an office in the 1960s where the men went on occasional hunting weekends and sometimes would bring her back a duck (cleaned), so I'd had that. But none of the bigger things.

I made a roasted strawberry and cream cheesecake for Memorial Day dessert and it was not a complete success: It all tasted great, but I'm guessing it was under cooked because the strawberry layer was not firm. It had more of a custard texture. I've made this before and it worked great. Also, the top layer or plain cheesecake was fine. It passed the "wiggle test", but I've never really trusted that anyway. I read somewhere that cheesecake should be 150F when done - does that sound right? Any ideas? Here is the recipe if you want to look at it.

Welcome to eGullet, @Umar Abraham! I am very much looking forward to your contributions. I always get excited when we have new members from outside of my country (US)!

Only sorta on topic, but I remember as a kid my extended family called all large knives "butcher knives". I'm not at all sure if any of them had an actual butcher knife. I'm pretty sure that my mother didn't. For some reason, everyone had Cutco knives and utensils. I wonder if Cutco even made a butcher knife back then?

Breakfast at a favorite place owned by HS friends of Jessica's. It’s been around for many years serving just breakfast and lunch and has great “country” food. Mr. Kim had the chicken fried steak and eggs: I had eggs, sausage, and their perfect hashbrowns: We shared a pancake: Breakfast at home: Still working through @Duvel's wonderful potato pancakes. A breakfast for Mr. Kim: Sage sausage and an egg. Mine was sans sausage.

I had completely forgotten that thread! Thank you so much for linking to it. Those are the topics that I love the best at eG. The ones that tell a story and connect food and people. Love the picture of your mom!

I do not know the answer to your question, but I'm intrigued by your post and hope you'll let us know where this goes! You write very well, BTW!

Wow! I know I've seen the biscuit mix, but I'm not sure I've seen all the other stuff besides the cornbread. Here's what they still sell. I remember Martha White cake mixes, but not Jiffy's. They were awful and only made one layer.