Bit of an Asian theme to the last couple of meals… Last night I made bibimbap – a typical Korean dish with rice, vegetables, a Korean chilli sauce and an egg. It is a great vegetarian option so I ordered this a lot in Korea! If you order dolsot-bibimbap (bibimbap served in a hot pot) at a restaurant, they usually break a raw egg over the vegetables and it cooks in the heat of the dish… but I fry my egg first and place on top.
I don’t think there’s any other meal I make that requires so many dishes! I cook the rice in one pot. Then I need to quickly steam/ boil the julienated carrots in another. Then there’s silverbeet that needs cooking… I threw in sprouts into this one instead of creating yet another dish. I love greens with the korean seasoning sauce – i.e. sesame oil, salt, garlic, sesame seeds. That’s another frypan- getting the seeds toasted… and a bowl to mix it all up in. It should also have spring onions but I couldn’t find them zero waste so we just skipped them. Then there’s a pan for the mushrooms which get fried in a bit of sesame oil and salt… I also fried courgettes first and set them aside. Then there’s the bowl to mix up the bibimbap sauce (Korean chilli sauce gochujang, sesame oil, sugar, water, toasted sesame seeds, ACV and garlic)… and then the pan to fry the eggs!
But Bibimbap is worth the dishes. 🙂 Once it is all nicely arranged ready to eat you destroy it really- by mixing in the chilli and egg with everything else in the bowl… (not if you’re Antony though who likes to eat one element of the meal at a time!). The combination of rice veges and egg with the chilli sauce is just so good. And of course we had kimchi as a side dish.
After dinner last night I played Bridge with Janine- we have played before online with some friends but this was my first night playing in a tournament online. It was organised by our Ashburton Bridge Club so it was lovely to ‘see’ other bridge players and play against them. Although we had a couple of brain fades with our bidding we got 3rd which was pretty amazing! Bridge is a funny game – sometimes you think you had a great night and the result has you near the bottom, and other times you don’t think you did that well and you find out you did! But either way it keeps you coming back for more. Already looking forward to next Friday- just need to find a partner to play with.
So I woke up before 7am as usual this morning and after a bit of a chat in bed we decided to watch some more of the series we’ve been enjoying on TV on demand. So it was duvets into the lounge and on the couch watching My Brilliant Friend – the last 2 episodes.
We’ve never spent the first few hours of a Saturday watching TV before but it was great. Such a beautifully filmed TV series with exceptional acting, fantastic, complex characters and great sets (Italy in 1950s season 1 then 1960s season 2). Although some themes are a little disturbing we both loved and highly recommend this coming of age Italian drama. See it if you haven’t (TVNZ on demand).
I tried a new recipe for lunch today – Japanese Egg Rolls – which was basically egg/ sesame/ tamari mix in the pan like a pancake until set then filled with a mix of rice/ sesame/ ginger/ onion/ tamari and chilli sauce, served with my favourite Asian Slaw. Yum!
This afternoon I started pruning the hebes by the letterbox. I couldn’t get over how many people were out on their bikes and out for walks – people of all ages. It was a stunning sunny day (after a drab start) so not surprising that people want to be out enjoying… I hope all the biking and walking carries on after lockdown. Our good friend Alasdair biked passed and we had a yarn on the driveway which was lovely. I contemplated getting out on the bike myself but then it got rather windy so I didn’t bother!
I spent a bit of time finalising things for tonight’s online Zoom Quiz. Can’t wait to see how the Quiz goes… I’ve created 7 rather different rounds so am hoping that people find it fun, something for everyone. It starts at 8pm. Just hoping the technology works as it should. It’s my first time running a quiz night! And doing it over zoom presents interesting challenges. Before then though I’ve got dinner… the plan was to make nutloaf, zoodles with raw homegrown tomato sauce & hasselback potatoes… but that seems like a lot of work when it’s 5.30pm already! Maybe I’ll think of something else…