Pinoy Mart

(Borrowed from this website) Getting there: Noksapyeong Stn, Exit 2. Walk for about 300m, until the road forks. Veer left at the kimchi pots. Meander past a bunch of (for want of a better word) funky bars and cafes for a few minutes. PM is across the road, on your right.

 

Last night we stumbled into this foreign foods mart with some friends on our way to find a restaurant.  Several minutes later we wandered out of this mart with lots of foreign foods that we haven't seen in months.  

I am the first one to say that when living in a foreign country one ought to fully embrace the culture and shop as a local.  However, I said this more when kimchi and strange seafood were not the primary cuisine.  After several months in Korea, all I really want to do is to bake in an oven, cook with hearty flour, eat raw honey by the spoonful, and smother my food with spicy sauce.  These things are nearly impossible if shopping is done in a Korean market.  

I don't recommend these little markets for price, for they are not cheap and a lot of what they have you can buy at Costco for less, but they do have some gems that I highly recommend.

 The sauces are wonderful and will last a long time.  

The coconut milk and curry are fantastic, fairly inexpensive, and the curry paste will provide multiple batches of curry.  

The lentils are the first I've seen of lentils since coming to Korea, and my Korean friend had never heard of them before.  Stock up.

 The flour and honey are a must, considering all the stove top baking recipes I have that would benefit from these two ingredients.  In fact, I made a scrumptious batch of pancakes this morning using this flour and honey; check out the recipe for Health-Conscious Pancakes.

Happy shopping!

Successful Groceries

When Alison and I first arrived in Seoul we both found grocery shopping a daunting, frustrating chore.  Unfortunately for us, we are very spoiled.  We both have spent the majority of our lives on the West Coast of the States, an area famous for health foods and health fanatics.  Both of our mothers are fastidious regarding proper shopping, the reading of nutrition labels, and the avoidance of all pesticides, chemicals, preservatives, and the like.  As a result, Alison and I represent the younger generation of health-concerned shoppers who know what GMOs are and will pay the price for organic, local, fresh foods.

If only we could find those things or read the labels here in Korea...

Despite our inability to read Korean or even to successfully ask the grocery clerks for the organics section, we have found a variety of foods that have allowed us to eat well.  Most of our shopping is done at Homeplus, with an occasional stop at Costco and the local markets.  Here is what my shopping trip to Homeplus usually looks like:

Pineapple, apples, bananas, carrots, zucchini, onions, garlic, potatoes, sweet potatoes, collard greens, lettuce, broccoli, and tofu.

Hearty cereal, vinaigrette, salsa, peanut butter, jam, pasta & sauce, lean breakfast meat, plain yogurt, laughing cow cheese, bagels, snacks, whole bean coffee (Costco), red wine, and frozen chicken breast & eggs (not pictured).

So, if you are considering shopping for yourself and not visiting another Korean restaurant, hopefully this shopping list will offer some grocery inspiration.  I have found that this collection will last for about two weeks, as long as I stop by a local market after about a week and restock on my fresh greens.  

Happy shopping!