Week 31 - Day Four: Advice on How to Eat Kimchi Jigae

TIME THERE: 26 min.
TIME BACK: 30 min.
WEATHER: clear, -1C, 9 km/hr wind there; partly cloudy, 8C, 18 km/hr wind (gusting to 30 km/hr wind) back.
WHAT I WORE: yoga pants, work shirt, sweatshirt, running gloves (gloves in panniers on the way home)
NOTES:

I had kimchi jigae for lunch today, as I usually do on Thursdays now that I've recently discovered this delicious Korean stew. It's made from kimchi (spicy pickled cabbage), pork, tofu, onions, vast quantities of garlic, and SPICES - lots and lots of red-hot SPICES!! It's served with white rice on the side. And if you're down with spice and garlic, kimchi jigae will change your life. Guaranteed.

Usually I eat this when I go out for lunch on Thursdays with my co-workers. Given:
1. that I have a limited timeframe in which to eat this (during the lunch
hour, minus the time it takes to walk to and from the restaurant);
2. that it usually is the last item to arrive at the table after ordering;
and,
3. that it's so spicy it will make you sweat and cry as you eat it;
I've been in need of a kimchi jigae eating technique so that I can eat this painfully spicy dish in a short amount of time.

Today, I discovered such a technique, and I will share it with you because I love you and you deserve it. And so, without further ado . . .

HealthyBiker's Kimchi Jigae Mouth-Burn-Minimizing Eating Technique
1. Pick out the tofu and pork pieces and lay them on the side of the dish to cool off.
2. Pour some of the soup broth over the side of rice, then pick out some kimchi and lay it on top of the rice.
3. Eat the kimchi off the top of the rice.
4. Continue eating the kimchi in stages - first layer it over the rice, allowing the broth to drain off it and onto the rice below, then eat it. (even the few seconds that it's laying on top of the rice instead of in the still-bubbling soup broth will cool it considerably)
5. Eat the tofu, pork, and kimchi intermittently as they cool.
6. When most of the "goodies" (the kimchi, tofu, and pork) are eaten, pour the rest of the soup broth over the rice.
7. Eat as much of the richly broth-flavoured rice as you want and/or can handle.

Et voila! You've eaten kimchi jigae without hurting yourself! And you've done it in record time. Well done, old chap, well done.