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Bibimbap: You don't know what you got

  When I thought yesterday was tough, I had no idea that it was only the beginning. As I rode into Thursday, I had no idea what was next. No inspiration, no direction, and no clue. I brought 2 books on Korean cooking to work with me, but I was too busy to read them. There they sat on my desk, the works of Eric Kim, Taekyung Chung, and Debra Samuels taunting me. It was a reminder, that I had planned nothing in this Korean theme week.  I have been winging it. It was looking like I was out of ideas.

I chose denial as the precious hours of the day passed. We are in a state of physical transition at work which provides the perfect opportunity to hide my head in the sand on dinner ideas. I was sure of one thing, I had missed a few important household items when grocery shopping early yesterday morning, so I was stopping at Walmart before heading back over the river to go home tonight. I work well under pressure, so staring down the barrel of the imminent family requiring dinner, I just might pull something out of nothing.


As I sat in the parking lot of Walmart, my weakness surrounded me and I began to reason, "No one is going to think poorly of me if I take a break tonight, there was no time, it happens to all of us.  I will just continue Korea week tomorrow." As I walked into the store, even though I tried not to think about it, I was feeling disappointed in myself. I decided that my mind would stay open, and I would stop thinking about the big picture and stay generic. Whether you use a Korean tabletop cooker, a wok, a skillet, or the grill on the porch, thinly sliced beef is the most versatile option when planning the not-yet-conceived Korean dinner. 

Donna was still not yet home when I got there, the house was dark and cold. This is because we heat with wood and no one had been home since 9 this morning to feed the wood stove. It had been a very cold and blustery day, so getting the heat going was first. The Second was, to call my sister Amy. I donned my Aeropex headphones and dialed her number, it had been too long since we talked.

Somehow I knew that my actions would just fall into a grove.  I honestly believe that we as humans instinctively know what to do initially, but then we let our heads intervene, messing everything up. Rock on Mel Robbins!

Prepping banchan (Korean supporting dishes), sauteed carrots, spinach, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and zucchini, then the thinly sliced beef, fried sunny side up eggs, and an incredible gochujang blended sauce to top with sesame seeds can just happen as a 2-hour conversation happens with your little sister. Bibimbap is born. This is where my go-with-the-flow theory leads. It was so nice to catch up with Amy.


Last Saturday, we had a giant bowl of Bibimbap at Shin-la in Brattleboro. This, "I am out of ideas Thursday night, this I am out of time, this I am exhausted and just want fast food night's" Bibimbap was just as good if not better than Shin-la's. If this does not drive home the point to stop overthinking dinner, I do not know what does! Not only did I make Korean dinner 5 nights in a row, make giant messes in my kitchen, and clean up said messes myself, I did what I set out to do, I took the old adversary, "I don't know what to make for dinner tonight" and I punched it in the face.



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