Bibimbap!

On our recent outing to Bulguksa temple, we asked our driver Mr. Lee to find us a restaurant serving bibimbap, which means "mixed rice." I've had bibimbap (very satisfying word! Fun to say!) a couple of times now, and its starting to grow on me. Lots of new, and often unidentified, flavors!

Bibimbap is served as a bowl of mixed vegetables (and perhaps meat) with a fried egg. Warm sticky rice is mixed in, along with hot chili paste to taste, and the whole lot is stirred together just before eating. The impressive thing about Korean meals is the array of vegetable side dishes (banchan). In the photo below, bibimbap is at lower left in the stainless steel bowl. All the other dishes are accompaniments like pickled cabbage, radish, or cucumber, steamed greens, bean sprouts, tofu, garlic, etc.

In a traditional Korean restaurant, diners take off their shoes as they enter the restaurant, then sit on the (heated) floor at low tables. This can get uncomfortable pretty quickly for those of us used to sitting on chairs. Vivian is pretty happy when we sit on the floor - that is, until the old ajummas come and start talking to her! Just after this picture was taken, the proprietor "helped" us by taking Vivi off our hands for a few minutes. It took Vivian about 30 seconds to lose it, and about 30 seconds more to recover when the ajumma gave her back to me. These ladies LOVE Vivian and mean well. They kind of scare me, so I can only imagine how Vivi must feel!