b-b-b-b-b-b.

Yesterday we finally achieved the Worst Weather of the Year. At least it's hard to see how it could get too much worse than this without being upgraded to Cosmic Frigging Windstorm status like last January, a storm which blew the fronts off of buildings, knocked trees into canals, etc.

We, of course, weren't around for that one, so we can't really compare the two head to head. I guess what I'm saying is, the conditions were very cold and very windy (40F with 40mph winds), and that meant staying inside and making some comfort food.

Mara placed a request for bibimbap, and it was a stellar suggestion. Trouble was, we only had two reasonable vegetables in the house, green beans and something called "tender stem broccoli" that I got at the Natuurwinkel.

I almost never go to the Natuurwinkel anymore because someone works there who I really don't want to talk to. Does this ever happen to you? Where you so badly want to avoid talking to a particular person that you no longer go to a place that you used to go all the time and would ideally still like to be going to?

So I don't go to the Natuurwinkel anymore. Yesterday, however, I made a gross tactical error. I somehow thought that, using only my manly intuition, that I could detect this person's presence (or absence) without actually going into the store. So I fired up the ol' Intuition Simulator, and after verifying that my nemesis wasn't working at that moment, I went in.

I turns out that I cannot actually detect whether or not a certain person is working without going into the store. Because of course they were there. Not only were they there, but they came up to the cash register as I was checking out because someone needed a price check. I think we call this a "backfire". Evasive maneuvers, Mr. Sulu! Good thing I had my headphones on. I just stared at the wall like a dog who's been yelled at.

So that sucked. The broccoli, though, was good enough to be almost worth it.

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minibibimbap, hastily jotted.

250gr beef, thinly sliced
400gr young broccoli, cut into 5cm lengths, 1/4-inch thickness
400gr green beans, cleaned
8 tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, pressed
salt
1 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tsp orange zest, minced
1 tbsp shao hsing wine
salt

Marinate the beef in 2tbsp of sesame oil, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tbsp soy sauce, the orange zest, and 1 tbsp shao hsing.

Meanwhile blanch the green beans and broccoli (separately). Shock the broccoli in cold water, but not the beans. Place each in their own bowl and salt to taste. Then toss the beans and broccoli each with 2 tbsp of sesame oil and a clove of pressed garlic. Marinate them for at least an hour and preferably 3 or 4.

When the veggies are ready, saute the beef in a wok over high heat for 5 minutes or so. Sprinkle sesame seeds over beef.

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UPDATE: Well, well, well. Miss Mara made her own bibimbap on Sunday, and it's the most beeyooootiful one yet: