that hankerin'

So sometimes when you are away from home you get a hankering for some good old American food.  Here in Korea that can be difficult sometimes.  There are something things that are just plain tough to find.  You find that there are something’s you can do without, but there are those few things which you just have to have.  For everyone it is different.  Because food is imported from America, after all the shipping and taxes, is expensive. 

When Simon and I get a hankering for something different we head to Itaewon.  Itaewon is close to the center of Seoul and is really close to the American military base.   There are a lot of foreigners there and interracially married couples.  Where we live I very rarely see any foreigners and I have yet to see an interracially married couple.  Anyways we usually head to Itaewon when there is something we just can’t live without. 

It is really hard to find Mexican food here in Korea.   I think it has something to do with the different type of spices they use that I don’t think most people care for here.  There are a couple of Mexican restaurants in Itaewon.  We actually tried one the last time we were there.  One of our friends Sarah Holman, an expat from Illinois (not the Chicago part), referred us to Tome Tila and it is similar to Chipotle or Qdoba.  I have to say it was pretty tasty.  We both ordered tacos and we shared a chili fries, which were SUPER spicy.  Did I mention that Simon loves chili it is pretty obvious because he cleaned the basket out in the picture below.

After that we headed to High Market, which is an actual legal international market.  There are some illegal markets where people sale illegally imported products from American and other countries.  The prices are about the same although the illegal market has harder to find items or can request items.  Either way imported items are definitely more expensive so we don’t regularly purchase them. 

Nachos Chips $4.20

Tortillas 10pk $5.00

Salsa $5.00

Dr. Pepper $1.00

Cheese $2.50 (it was a pretty small amount 150g)

Popcorn 1 pk $1.00

Thai seasoning $3.00

I can’t believe it’s not butter 2pk $5.40 (normally 4 sticks of butter at a regular grocery store is about $8.00)

It can be a hit and miss catching things on sale and things being crazily over priced.  Honestly I don’t mind too much.  I really enjoy eating Korean food and learning how to make all kinds of fun new dishes.  Simon is always surprised when I make some Korean dish.  He will say “how did you know that?”  My reply is always “I’m almost Korean remember?”