Northerners laugh when we complain about the cold (it dipped down into the 30s last night). But many Floridians don't have heat. And many more don't know about bibimbap.
Yesterday evening we met our heatless friends Don and Joanne at Gabose on University Drive. As soon as we were seated we were brought hot tea in small rounded cups that warmed the hands.
Soon, three hot stone bowls of bibimbap arrived (Don ordered bulgoggi), along with little dishes of red hot sauce. The waitress showed Joanne how to stir the sauce into the mix of vegetables, meat, rice (which was already solidifying at the bottom into thin crispy sheets - little rice waffles) and egg, which was also frying from the heat and traveling in shreds around the bowl.
The table then filled with numerous small dishes, all of them cold but many - like the kimchee - packing a punch.
I didn't use a spoon for my bibimbap, as Koreans do, but chopsticks so to prolong the meal. Even so, when I finished the bowl was still too hot to touch.
