Thanks to a load of errands, chores, and office work, I missed Sperwer's magnificent barbeque today, so I trundled home from the office around 2:30-ish to make a perverted sort of bibimbap from available ingredients. I used a multigrain rice mix, fried the rice up with sesame oil, then added the following leftovers: julienned cucumbers (raw), julienned carrots (quickly stir-fried in sesame oil), fresh alfalfa (is this the first-ever bibimbap to feature alfalfa?), fresh radish sprouts, leftover kimchi, two fried eggs (bring on the eggs, baby!), and a thorough gooshing of the wrong kind of gochu-jang (red pepper paste): I had a packet of jeon-gol-yang-nyeom (paste for a type of spicy stew), which had been given to me by my colleague Z. Self-respecting Koreans would agree the following is an abomination:
...but I ate it anyway, and pondered what I was missing over at Sperwer's place.
And now-- back to the office on what has been-- weather-wise-- a perfect, Kevin-style day. Sucks to have spent so much of it indoors, dammit.
UPDATE: Sperwer emails in to mock me:
...you did miss the mother of all barbeques, including (in no particular order - which is pretty much how my one man operation managed it):
homemade burgers, parmesan mashed potatoes, grilled dilled salmon, grilled "goet deungshim" with l'ancienne moutarde, freshly baked baguettes and pain de campagne w/ bona fide chèvre, and the pièce de résistance, grilled leg of lamb that had previously been deeply drenched in a garlic, sesame and olive oil marinade.
I won't bore you with the wines, since I know you don't drink, but I also managed to snag a dozen bottles of Martinelli's apple cider, which the assorted Koreans, Mongols, Chinese, Japanese and Filipinos couldn't get enough of.
I thought I had overdone it, in terms of quantity, but much to my amazement, they ate it all, except for some - OK, a lot -- of the mashed potatoes - but now I'm set for my carb fix for a week.
We skipped the expected ice cream cake that was brought along by the crowd from the local house of umpteen flavors.
Ffffffffuck.
_
Hey Kevin!
ReplyDeleteI don't think those sprouts you used are alfalfa! Check out http://www.isga-sprouts.org/nutritio.htm I don't see the sprouts you used there, but they look a bit like sunflower sprouts, eh?
My co-worker ordered a bibimbap with actual alfalfa sprouts at HomePlus a coupld weeks ago, and I was really surprised to see them!
I love alfalfa sprouts, and buy a mixed container of purple, and 2 kids of green to put in sandwiches, but, again, I'm not sure they're all alfalfa either.
The sprouts you had are pretty strong - spicy and peppery, yes? In Japan, they sometimes serve them at bars with beef jerky and mayonnaise.
Anyhow, I think your lunch looks yummy.
Let's BBM3! Check out my blog!
Jelly,
ReplyDeleteRU talking about the green sprouts in my picture? If so, those're radish sprouts.
The alfalfa is barely visible in my pic, cleverly hidden under the kimchi, with maybe only a head or two poking out. I'm pretty sure that's alfalfa... at least, that's how it was labeled at the commissary.
Kevin
Ahhh! I completely missed the radish sprout comment and the alfalfa sprout peek (but they're well hidden, yes?)
ReplyDeleteMaybe you shouldn't sign up for BBM3 because you'll be in the states for the hoidays.
Grrrrr.
Ahhh! I completely missed the radish sprout comment and the alfalfa sprout peek (but they're well hidden, yes?)
ReplyDeleteMaybe you shouldn't sign up for BBM3 because you'll be in the states for the hoidays.
Grrrrr.
Abomination or not, two thoughts came to my mind: "I wonder how that would taste," and "I'm sure he farted up a blue streak after eating that--eggs, sprouts, and kimchee... OH MY."
ReplyDeletePS: Your friend with the excess of Mashers can turn them into potato pancakes if he gets totally bored with them. Or even if he had an excess of the lamb left over, could make a lovely sheperd's pie.
Just a thought!
Maven-- real bibimbap, done right, tastes great. It comes in all sorts of varieties, sometimes including beef or other meat, and often including different vegetables. A single fried or raw egg is standard with many forms of bibimbap.
ReplyDeleteI probably did fart up a storm, but didn't notice because my normal schedule includes a lot of farting. I'm a naturally gassy guy.
Jelly-- BBM3 sounds interesting, and I checked out the link you mentioned, but I have no idea what I'd send as a care package. You have to prepare a LOT of stuff for that package, too-- not just food! A photo of your kitchen, some recipes... yikes.
Were I to do the BBM3, I'd want to send something "mailable," like cookies. And there's the problem: I don't have an oven.
If someone knows of any "oven conversions" that can be accomplished with a two-burner electric stove, I'd love to hear about it. I keep wondering whether there's some sort of pizza-stone-plus-stew-pot combination (or do I just need a Dutch oven?) that might work.
Maven-- back to you-- the bibimbap I made actually wasn't bad. The only thing I'd change is the pepper sauce, which truly DIDN'T match the dish. The pepper sauce I used, given to me by a friend, was sweetened and spiced for Korean stew, and didn't really match the thicker, earthier gochujang normally used in typical bibimbap.
(Pronunciation: "bee-beem-bahp")
Kevin
Actually Kevin, you don't HAVE to send anything. It's up to you what to include or not include. My boss has a stove I'm sure I could borrow if I'm feeling creative. Otherwise I'm just sending Korean packaged goodies and stuff.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy boolgogi, myself. Can you make bibimbap with left over boolgogi?
ReplyDeleteHave you thought about a crock pot for stewing stuff down ala dutch oven? It's a wonderful thing.