Kim Shook

I think that mac and cheese is probably a southern/soul food thing. I miss it if it isn’t part of any holiday meal. And I’m one of those who adores the really sweet sweet potato preparations. Either the marshmallow ones or the pecan praline ones. My SIL made some that were savory that I actually liked a lot – they were cubed and tossed with olive oil and rosemary and roasted. Dinner at my MIL’s was very good. I did the requested apps – shrimp dip, green olive tapenade, and my corn salad. Served with tortilla chips, crackers, and toasted baguette slices: Jessica made her wonderful deviled eggs: She also brought a jar of her lovely pickled vegetables that everyone loved. The menu included turkey, dressing, stuffing, gravy, roasted sweet potatoes w/ rosemary, southern green beans, mashed potatoes, yeast rolls, cranberry sauce, corn, corn pudding, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie. My plate: The pies: Possibly the best pecan pie I’ve ever tasted. Everything was truly delicious, though a few things were a bit too salty. She brined her turkey and didn’t rinse it. My SIL and I think that she confused the instructions regarding not washing poultry before cooking (lest you spread bacteria) with rinsing AFTER brining. The stuffing and the gravy were especially briny. But it all tasted good.

@Smithy – I have to say that those exact whomp sweet rolls are our family tradition. The orange ones were the only kind my mother ever made, and they are the ones that I still use to make the silly Christmas breakfast “tree” every year: 😁 @Pete Fred – a couple of things: the texture of that lemon tart is amazing. If I could make something that looked like that, I’d just quit doing anything but those. And yet, everything you make is rather astounding looking, so maybe not 😉. Also, that brioche loaf is my idea of a perfect bread. And making it into Bostock is genius. Our church had a table at a local neighborhood’s holiday market and I made goodies to sell. Chocolate Crinkles: This was a Tik-Tok recipe I saw. Crazy busy week and I was looking for EASY. These were a cake mix, an egg, Cool Whip, and 10X. Pretty and fairly tasty. I also did mini muffins from Krusteaz mixes that I zhushed up a bit. Banana pecan: Just added pecans and each got a sliver of dried banana chip on top. The blueberry muffins just got some sprinkles: These were surprisingly good, but I think would have benefitted from the addition of some dried blueberries. I also made orange cranberry with the addition of dried cranberries, but I forgot to take a picture.

@chileheadmike and @lemniscate - I'm so sorry to hear of your health issues! It's an especially terrible time of year to be less than well. Hope your respective recoveries are swift!

Finally got the frozen since January panettone out and had a French toast making marathon earlier this month. Before cooking: This is about half of what I cooked. It is all cooked and back in the freezer and has make a few breakfasts and dinners since: Jessica has even taken some to a friend who is giving birth any day now and needs something easy to prepare.

@BonVivant – thank you so much for sharing your shopping trip photos and experiences. It makes me homesick for somewhere I’ve never been. I watch so many videos of Germany and would love to visit. I’ve been terribly remiss in posting lately. Many reasons, but I hope to do better in the future. We’ll see! You’ll notice that every one of the meals I’m posting are restaurant meals. The truth is that if I eat lunch, it tends to be out. If I’m at home a late breakfast tends to suffice until dinner – though sometimes I have a snack or what my mom called “kitchen sink meals” – foldover sandwiches or rolled up lunchmeat and a few chips eaten at the kitchen counter while doing other things. We had friends from Florida staying last month. We took them to one of our favorite spots for lunch one day – Westwood Fountain: lunch counter food at it’s best. They loved it and said they wish Jacksonville had something like that. The bologna burger: The Italian sub: The Patty Deluxe, which I’d never seen before: Cheddar cheese, grilled onions, 1000 Is. dressing and lettuce on grilled sourdough. It was wonderful. The hot dog with kraut: Mr. Kim and I had lunch at a place we hadn’t eaten at in years. We didn’t remember it being as good as it was. I had fried shrimp, pintos, corn, and cornbread: Everything but the corn was excellent – the corn was canned. Mr. Kim had meatloaf, biscuits, eggs, and fried potatoes: All good, but the potatoes were especially great. We ended up back at the Westwood Fountain for post church brunch. Mr. Kim had the Italian sub again: I had the club and their delicious fries: Mr. Kim, Jessica and I lunched at one of our new favorites Lalo’s Pinches Tacos. Queso Fundido – chorizo, cheese dip, and pico: All three of us had the Birria Tortas: These were amazing. I honestly don’t know which is better – the tacos or the tortas. Their fabulous fries: I discovered an amazing place a few months ago and have been trying to get Mr. Kim there ever since. It’s called Europa and is a combination deli, grocery, café, etc. specializing in European foods – with an emphasis in German and eastern European things. It’s the place where I finally found (and fell in love with) Leberkäse. Well, I finally got him there on Saturday and he loved it. He had The Mighty German - beerwurst, Bavarian sauerkraut, imported baked milk cheese, sweet onion & mayo: I had the Roast My Beef - 1/2 lb. Rare roast beef, horseradish mayo on a brioche roll: No idea why the top looks so burnt – it wasn’t at all. Both sandwiches were incredibly good. Can’t wait to go back again and try something else. Drinks:

So many amazing breakfasts! I have to make sure I don’t look before my breakfast or I won’t be satisfied with anything I can make! Between house guests, the looming holidays, ongoing health issues, I’ve been MIA for a good bit of time. I’ve dropped in to read and look, but haven’t posted in forever. Some stuff from the last month: We had friends visiting from Florida and took them to one of our favorite places for breakfast one morning. They loved it! Cinnamon bun topped with salted caramel maple syrup and cream cheese frosting: Amazing, as always. Texas Toast with sausage and bacon gravy: The burrito – eggs, spicy pimento cheese, jalapeno, tomato, black beans, and green onions with honey sriracha sour cream: The Benedict: Eggs, VA ham on a grilled croissant with smokey tomato hollandaise. With cheese grits, dressed greens and fruit. The fruit has their signature edible glitter all over it: Honestly, the quirkiness of this place would get tiresome if the food wasn’t so good. But we forgive the glitter and the cutesy names because the food and the people are awesome. One morning while our friends were here I did a breakfast was a casserole – whomp biscuits, eggs, sausage, cheese, and sausage gravy. Biscuits, sausage, and cheese: Baked: Serving: Another morning was just some fantastic things from Whisk (a local and nearby bakery) – croissants and Kouign-Amann: Jams and preserves: Bacon and sausage: A solo breakfast: Croissant, bacon, sausage, and a great pear. One day earlier this month I made French toast for about four hours. We had leftover crusty bread from a recent dinner, 2 panettone in the freezer, a partial loaf of German bread in the freezer and some good white bread also in the freezer. The was the crusty bread: The panettone before cooking: This has made easy and delicious breakfasts and even dinners this month - Panettone French toast and bacon: And ham: Creamed chipped beef on a biscuit with some grapes: This morning: Ham, eggs, and roll from the Greek/Italian restaurant we had lunch at yesterday. Here's hoping I can manage to keep up better from now on!

This sounds like a shortcut version of my grandmother's Thanksgiving "Congealed Salad". It consists of ground cranberries, lemon jello, sugar, chopped pecans and celery, and a finely chopped peeled orange plus the zest. It's actually delicious and I wish I'd thought of it sooner, so I could take it to dinner.

The funny thing is that my MIL is an excellent cook. Mostly. I mean winning blue ribbons for baking and canned goods for many years at the VA state fair. Though last year she sent us a picture of the finished and still stuffed turkey at 1pm. We didn't eat until 6pm. So, that stuffed turkey sat for 5 hours 😨. I ate a LOT of the side dishes.

That last sentence is SO true. I have a cousin who is a retired nurse and she always said the same thing.

Thank you everyone for the understanding and sympathy. And while I'd be perfectly happy to miss spending holidays with my MIL, @Katie Meadow has hit it on the hear when she said, "For others it means a chance to see relatives or friends we don't get together with that often." I love seeing my nieces - and one lives in CA so Christmas is practically the only time we see her. Also, my BIL lives in CA and AZ and it gives us an opportunity to spend time with my favorite in law. Another thing to consider is that my MIL is 82 years old and Mr. Kim just lost his dad last December. That has brought home to him that he has a finite amount of time to spend with her - for all of them to spend time as a family. So, I grit my teeth a bit - and bitch and moan to understanding friends - and enjoy the fun parts!

I think in some places they've overbuilt. I belong to a Lidl FB group and lots of people are talking about closing locations. We had one close that is in an area that I would think would be perfect - upscale, residential, retail and business. There is an Aldi that is doing fine and I think Lidl is a much superior store to Aldi. Odd.

I adore tea towels that that one is especially lovely!

Damn. As I said, the enoki mushrooms are the only mushrooms I like (I find that all other mushrooms tastes of...mushrooms 😁). I guess I could get a grow kit and start growing my own.

This is very true - I never want to host Thanksgiving. Christmas is my holiday (though I've decided not to do our regular Xmas Eve party this year - I don't think I can manage that and all the other holiday things). I guess what I'm reacting to is that it feels like Jessica and I are considered "outsiders". I know that Jessica's feelings have been hurt when she's told not to bring anything and then we walk in and the other granddaughters have been there the preceding 3 evenings baking pies with Grandma. My MIL, SIL and nieces usually provide all the food. So, while I truly do appreciate someone else hosting, I'd still like to pitch in a bit. I'm 64 years old - this whining isn't very dignified, is it? 😄

We've been summoned to my MIL's for dinner (😄). For the last few years, I'm told that she doesn't need me to cook anything. A few years ago, I'd bring some kind of nibbly, snacky thing to have before dinner - something light because it's usually up to an hour before the food hits the table. She asked me to please stop doing that since "her family" didn't like to fill up on stuff before the dinner. (Can you tell I find all this a bit irritating 😁?). Anyway, this year she asked me to bring an appetizer. So I'm bringing a trio of dips - green olive tapenade, shrimp, and corn dips with crackers and toasted baguette rounds.

I did some shopping at Lidl yesterday and made a good holiday treats haul: Most of this will get tucked away until closer to Christmas (the milk chocolate butter cookies will almost certainly get eaten in the next couple of weeks!). There was also a nice assortment of what I consider "stocking chocolate" - little foil wrapped Santas, angels, balls, ornaments, and a large Santa that will look perfect peeking out of Jessica's stocking.

Thank you! They are on the list!

I bought a box of the Goya Maria cookies - suggested by Google as an alternative to my beloved Social Teas. After my first taste I thought, "no way". But they are growing on me. They are less dense than the Social Teas, but have a similar bland, low sugar, plainness that I love 😄.

I've been MIA for a number of reasons lately, but I jumped on a few days ago and saw this terrible news. I was so saddened and shocked that I just backed off and haven't come back until today. I guess I've been processing. it. I knew that she hadn't been in the best of health and that she hadn't been participating in discussions for a while. But, somehow it was still a shock. Anna was such a strong personality that I somehow always expected her to be there. I remember how welcoming she was when I joined eG. Back when I joined this place seemed to me to be a bit of a boy's club. I quickly realized with people like Anna and so many other ladies, that it was much more egalitarian than I first thought. I will always remember and be grateful for her advice and kindnesses. Thank you to my fellow eGulleteers who have been so much more eloquent than me.

I guess I like dreck. Oh, well. I'm ok with that. 🙄

Thank you!! I will have to search out some of the brands that Amazon suggests. The Peek Freans are a bit pricey - $12/box.

Yes, sadly my beloved Social Teas are gone. I like Lorna Doones, but I can make a better shortbread cookie than a Lorna Doone. I cannot even imagine how to make the Social Teas. And, so far, I haven't found a good substitute.

All three of us still eat them. Not sure why. They aren't really good, but somehow they satisfy a particular craving. I prefer unfrosted (not a fan of royal icing - which is what it is basically. Mr. Kim and Jessica love trying the "out there" flavors, but I prefer the standards - strawberry, blueberry, brown sugar.

We love it. Fresh, we tear off hunks and eat it with butter. A few days old, we slice it, toast it and slather it with butter. After Xmas - when they go on sale - we buy a couple to slice and freeze and make into French toast. This last may be my favorite way to enjoy it. I'm not a fan of fruitcake, but candied fruit in an enriched dough? Yes, please.

@Smithy - I didn't put the plastic wrap on, but I think that @FauxPas is right that it is to prevent that rubbery top, which never seems to happen to me anyway. The foamy layer tasted just the same as the regular curd. Funny thing - I belong to a British food group on FB and one lady showed off her batch of lemon curd that she's famous for and hers had that same foamy layer. I've asked her about it.