I heart bibimbap

This is bibimbap. (It’s pronounced, more or less, as “bee-beem-bob”, all said within a half-second.) I know I've mentioned it often enough, so I thought I'd show it to you.

Specifically, it’s my bibimbap from yesterday, bought at a little restaurant across the street from E-Mart, a long block from work. Ray took me there the first time; it’s a couple of bucks cheaper than the other restaurants around, and the food is just as good. Some of the restaurants ask you to leave your shoes at the door and sit on a pillow; this one is western-style. Fortunately, their bibimbap is vegetarian; I still can’t explain that I don’t want any animals in my food.

This lunch cost 3500 Won, or about $3.10. The bibimbap comes with the items in separate little heaps in the bowl, and the customer stirs it up into the conglomeration you see here. I may be the only person alive for whom bibimbap has connotations of Huckleberry Finn, as Huck explained that the Widow Douglas made him keep his food items separate on the plate, but he liked to mix ‘em up so the flavors swap around and it all goes down better. I concur.

To the left, there’s a little dish of sprouts, kimchi (highly spiced cabbage, without which no meal is complete), and something else that seems to be mostly shredded bell pepper; to the right, a cup of vegetable broth.

No, I’ve never photographed my lunch before. Yes, I know there are many comments to be made about its appearance.

I heart it anyway.