Kim Shook

You're right. You'll find that trick in every "community cookbook". At least they are using real chocolate and not that horrible candy coating stuff. Today I see a lot of folks using coconut oil to harden a shell of chocolate. I'm betting a LOT of folks are adding a little of it when trying to make the bombs.

It sounds good to me. It was just hard to tell what it was exactly. If that was a sandwich log, I was going to be suspicious!

@blue_dolphin – those pecans are gorgeous. Mr. Kim used to work with someone who sold fantastic pecans to raise funds for the Frog Level Volunteer Fire Department (not kidding – real name of a little township near us). They aren’t doing it anymore, so, I’ve been getting by on Costco pecans for the last few years. @Shelby – glad you got that new IP. What can it do that the older ones can’t? We got my MIL a “Duo” for her birthday and sometimes she asks questions I can’t answer since I don’t have one. @chromedome – gifts to people who really cook from people who really don’t are often sweet, but useless. Luckily, I love Christmas-themed serving dishes and Mr. Kim has spread that around. It’s funny how different everyone’s tastes are. I really don’t care for wooden spoons, or really anything totally rigid. I don’t mind the kind that are flat on the end (good for scraping fond), but an oval wooden spoon I find almost totally useless to me. They make one little eighth of an inch scrape in a pan and leave everything else behind to burn. Give me a silicone or nylon spoon, spatula, etc. and I’m happy. After an agreement that Mr. Kim and I would save our Christmas pennies for a new kitchen floor when we feel safe having workers in our house and we’d only let Santa fill our stockings, I was, once again, flooded with kitchen/food gifts😄. Some was from Jessica, but my normally sized stocking couldn’t possibly hold everything else: The set of dessert plates (sitting up at the back) are lovely and my new little mini processor is pink, but what really thrilled me was the white enamel vented bread bowl. I fell in love with the enamel pans when I kept seeing @CantCookStillTry using them. I found them online and added them to my wishlist. Apparently there is a 3 piece roasting pan on their way to me, too😁. More: We also agreed to not so much candy this year: 😳😄Very welcome, however, are the Tiptree Little Scarlet strawberry preserves (I’ve been out for months) and the Matiz cockles (time for @weinoo's clam sauce).

Welcome to eGullet, @Nikolay! It sounds like you have a LOT to contribute here. I'm looking forward to that. I'm also looking forward to hearing about your travels and your experiences in Norway. We like LOTS of pictures! 😄

It isn't labeled, but this recipe is just across from it: So, not bad at all. Just god-awful black and white photography.

@CaliPoutine - even though I see you on FB, I love seeing you here again! You've been missed.

@Maison Rustique – the graphics on those pamphlets are fantastic. I would be tempted to frame some of them. Here’s one from Duke Power, which must have belonged to my grandmother since Duke was NC and VA was VEPCO: The back of the booklet. I love that he’s Electric Santa on the front and Electric Formal Guy on the back: 1950 GE fridge. Did mother’s really do matching mother/daughter outfits: As unappetizing as it gets: Front and back of this one: I feel like we’re supposed to know who she is. And I love the snarky dedication: LOL I believe that there have to be a lot more of these somewhere in my house. I remember having dozens of them. But I can’t find them right now. I really hope I didn’t get firm with myself and purge them. 😨

I don't have much in the way of kitchen space, so NONE gets wasted on stuff I use once or twice (sometimes for Easter) a year. These go in some otherwise unused cabinets in the family room.

What is that on your bread? Is it smoked salmon?

Here are the pears from my grandparents farm from a blog post back in 2010: The preserves: I wrote this without the pictures in the Food Traditions and Culture section in 2009.

Mr. Kim gifted Jessica and I with them for Christmas: Very pretty. I am assuming that we just put them in a cup and pour almost boiling milk over them?

How I miss the pears from my grandparents farm. They were tiny, hard, and had a truly astringent quality. But they made the best pear preserves I've ever eaten in my life.

Hello, @jamesyu, and welcome to eGullet! There are lots of your fellow Canadians here. I'm looking forward to your posts and hearing about your interests.

Picked up lunch from a local sandwich shop. Mr. Kim got a double cheeseburger with bacon: I got the Italian sub with ham, salami, and provolone: We shared onion rings and their fantastic fries: I’m not a huge fan of batter dipped onion rings – I prefer crumb coated, but these are pretty good. Those fries, though. Maybe the very best in Richmond.

@Dante – your Bodega sandwich and corn look and sound delicious. But there seems to be something besides egg or cheese peeking out from the roll. Maybe some kind of meat? I finished dinner about an hour ago and I’d gladly wolf down that sandwich! 😁 I used the turkey carcass from Christmas dinner to make stock and added the dark meat scraps and some egg noodles to make turkey-noodle soup. The stock turned out really well: We did a porch drop for Mr. Kim’s dad and stepmom and stepsister (who are quarantining because his dad has Covid☹️). We knew that it was unlikely they had ever seen homemade stock, so we warned them that it would look like Jello! The container that went to Mr. Kim’s mom needed no warning – she’s been making stock longer than we’ve been alive! So tonight was turkey noodle soup and a baguette with creamy Gorgonzola. This cheese is like a mix of Gorgonzola and Brie. Incredibly gooey and delicious. They haven’t had it at Wegman’s for a long time and finally, today, it was there.

I truly love the idea of adding refried beans and will try that next time! Instead of Rotel, I've always used salsa.

Almost the last of the Christmas morning lox on an ET bagel.

@heidih and @shain – both beautiful examples of black sesame art. We would love either one. The three of us in my little family share a culinary peculiarity – while we love all kinds of sesame creations, we ALL detest sesame oil. @Dejah – with the pickerel picture, I had a hard time telling which was flora and which was fauna! 😁 Dinner – Mr. Kim’s plate: Fruit salad, pork w/ gravy, kale from Jessica’s “Misfit” vegetable delivery (which she doesn’t seem to be able to stop – it’s like when I belonged to the Columbia Music Club in the 70s) and broccoli casserole. My plate: I decided to do something a little different. I cooked some medium egg noodles and heated up some pork. Instead of just gravy, I added some whipping cream and Dijon to it and used that. Also, the last of the Sister Schubert rolls and some leftover celery and pimento cheese.

I’ve posted most of these on the Christmas thread, but thought I’d put them here, too. They will be nothing new to anyone who has been here for more than a year. They are the things that I always make. These are the goodies that I made for the holidays this year – I cut back a little bit, but not much! Peanut butter cookies: Lemon Chess Tarts A tray of cookies: I did not make these, we bought them from a friend of Jessica’s who is going through some rough financial times. They were actually delicious! Especially the thumbprints, which I never make. Sugar cookies: Toffee: Oatmeal cookies: These were not for us but were made to put in the lunches that our church makes every month for 3 homeless shelters. Peanut brittle: Sponge Candy: Pretzel Pecan Turtles: What we call “Happy Accident Candy” – all of the crumbs and shards of the sponge candy go into melted (as tempered as I can get it): Cinnamon pecans:

We all got pops, but instead of toys we got little ornaments. Fine for us but not sure that a child would be happy with it! But better than what passes for a Cracker Jack prize these days! 😄

In this house, the only possible choice for turkey sandwiches, tomato sandwiches, and grilled cheese is white bread. For the first two, it must be fluffy white bread (milk bread is perfect), for the last is can be more of a rustic loaf. 😊

I completely believe this is true. I always forget to do it.

Dankeschön!!!

@gfweb – the goose looks so good. I’ve only ever tried to make a goose once and was not terribly impressed, but I was a fairly new cook at the time. Your confit is making me think I need to try again. @BonVivant– as always, your food and your photography is beautiful and so appetizing. What I’m noticing so much with these pictures is the little cork and string Christmas trees. They are adorable. I saved one of your pictures and am determined to try to make some. @Shelby– I really want to try your method for fried chicken. My IP won’t SV, but I can use my Anova and get it to that point. I really want to do it soon, it looks SO good! @mgaretz – Happy Birthday to Mrs. Mgaretz! I missed getting a plate picture on Xmas Eve. We had SV pork roast, gravy, sweet potato latkes w/ brie and arugula, fruit salad, Marlene’s Broccoli Gratin, roasted mushrooms and terrible cornbread muffins (a failed recipe): Christmas dinner: Twice baked cheese potatoes, turkey, cranberry-orange sauce, Brussels sprouts, sweet potato souffle, and Jessica’s Challah and dried fruit dressing. Also: Pickly stuff and pimento cheese and celery. And then on the 26th, the strange combination meals started due to bizarre assortments of leftovers in the house: This was dinner – half an ET bagel with cream cheese and smoke salmon and a slice of fabulous pork (steamed in the CSO to reheat) and gravy. On the 27th, dinner was an open-faced hot turkey sandwich with gravy, a twice baked cheese potato, and sweet potato:

Turkey sandwich on completely the wrong bread 😁: along with pimento cheese stuffed celery and Funyuns.