Monday, July 10, 2006

baby finches, flooded bathroom, Bibimbap

The house finches nesting on our balcony hatched a few days ago! The babies are very loud. Lester seems puzzled by their peeping, but also interested. He cocks his head to listen, and he can just barely see their nest from his favorite perch in the corner of his cage.

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Last week, or the week before (I don't know, one of the nights Tom was here), I left my bathroom sink on--just a bit of drip drip dripping. But my sink doesn't drain well. Fortunately, Mark woke up in the middle of the night and there was 3 inches of water on the bathroom floor. I bailed out the bathroom with a dustpan.

Most of what was in the bathroom survived, except a bag of cotton balls, and my scale, which now reads 0.00 lbs each time I use it.

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Well duh. The font files are for a mac.

I'm on lunch break. Trying to figure out the best way to make sauce for Bibimbap. You all came through with excellent charcol suggestions (we have yet to bbq, so I suppose I have to wait to see how excellent they really are. Still, we did buy charcol).

So, bring on the ideas for Bibimbap sauce.

Hoisin? Spicy tofu paste? Soy sauce? Chili paste? I suspect a combination of all four.

6 comments:

Ian Keenan said...

We have great Korean supermarkets here in S. Jersey: I vote for sesame oil when the beef browns, but hoisin and soy works too. Bean sprouts in sesame oil is where it’s at. Have the store-bought Kochujang ready.

K. Lorraine Graham said...

Not so many Korean supermarkets round here, although I've heard tell of a large, Taiwanese owned chain that has a branch in east county San Diego--I can't remember what they're called, something with 99 in it.

Sesame oil for sure, but Mark's fond of spicy stuff, so I think there'll have to be some chili paste in there too.

Ian Keenan said...

well I guess you're going to LA then!

Kochujang (as u may know) is a hot bean paste -- we may be talking about the same thing. There may be a Kochujang-by-mail service unless you have your chili paste lined up. I can mail you a Ziploc.

K. Lorraine Graham said...

I didn't know the Korean name for it--it's doubanjiang in Chinese and I'm guessing they're more or less the same. Yes, next time I'm in LA, or at the fabled 99 supermarket. Things to look forward to. No need for the Ziploc...but thanks.

K. Lorraine Graham said...

A friend just recommended toasted sesame oil and bean paste, (or Kochujang if I want something spicy)

And apparantly, Irvine has a huge Korean and Korean-American population, so perhaps I wont have to wait until I head up to LA again.

I should write about food more often, it seems to bring ye readers out of the woodwork.

Ian, when were you in Korea, or were you ever?

Ian Keenan said...

I’ve never been to Asia. NJ has the best Korean in the East Coast.. Right next to the GW Bridge (don’t know what the public transportation is from NYC) Palisades Park is much better that NYC Koreatown -- total Seoul immersion. Philly has some major Korean BBQ places, plus a great student takeout place next to the Kelly Writers House (everything $5). There’s one place in DC midtown but one of the suburbs has a Koreatown that I’d like to check out some time.

What I like about Korean is the rowdyness of crowded places and the free appetizers (the rice plates).. I sometimes get the cheapest entrée on the menu and nibble it and get refills of the appetizers -- they are insulted if you don’t keep asking for more. + it’s good for you and there’s always Kochujang in everything.

Vegetarians often have no entree options, though - the way to go is get a California roll and fill up on the appetizers.. although the black bean pasta is great if available.