The Jangs picked us up Saturday morning. We knew we were going to Costco, but Justin said, "I don't think I told you we are going to the fish market too." Yay. The fish market had all kinds of things from the sea. It was a good place to practice my Korean "What is this?" and "What is that?" The outside area is nice for tourists. Prof. Jang said the boats used to pull right up there. The second floor is all dried fish, which is very popular here. Also on the second floor were several eating areas - they all looked the same, but Justin pointed out the different signs and that the people were sort of calling out to potential patrons and negotiating a bit for business. We had raw rish that we ate inside lettuce or sesame leaves. There was some cooked fish, and Keun Yung ordered more because Michael was eating it. I ate a couple of things that were still moving. Michael tried a couple kinds of raw fish but told me later it was hard to chew. At the end of the meal there was rice and fish soup - sort of all the bones with some meat on them. It was a lot of fun and very good. We then spent some time walking around a market area - crowded, small stalls crammed with stuff. We bought some small items for Christmas gifts. There were clothes, shoes, electronics, etc.
We then headed to Costco. I don't shop there in the States, so it was a new experience even to be at one. It is hard that some items are so large (no way I was going to buy that mayo), but I was pleased by how many Western items they had. We spent 300,000 won. Our freezer has beef patties, 4+ pounds of ground pork (I cooked and then froze), blueberries, burger buns (some are in the fridge), and 3 kinds of cookies in a pack of 18 (which Michael will forget about but I won't!). Fridge has some bagels, small soft cream cheese tubs, lettuce/mixed greens, sliced provolone (Ulsan seems only to have processed cheese), Hormel sliced turkey for sandwiches (we can't find any turkey in Ulsan, and Michael ate the Korean brand sliced ham for awhile but I can hardly even handle the smell) and oranges. Cupboards have kidney beans, diced tomatoes, hot chocolate (60!), pasta, and pasta sauce, canned peaches, two large Skippy PB and a strawberry jelly. We can buy some of these items here, but the prices were much better at Costco. Also in the cupboard is a Krusteaz pancake mix - we had 4 this morning. Michael said 216 to go because he noted the full bag makes 220. We also bought real maple syrup. In hindsight, it would have been nice to get the shredded cheddar too because it freezes so well and also a few roasted chickens for the same reason. Keun Yung is so thoughtful. We had a pretty big late lunch, but it was 5:30 or so and we weren't really hungry. But she went over and bought an ice cream sundae for Michael and gave it to him ... and a spoon for me too. So, that's the Busan outing.
I asked my mom to send some spices to make chili and also to throw in a couple of taco seasoning packets. We can find salsa in a jar. We like the Korean food, but it's nice to have something at home. I can't really figure out how/what to cook otherwise. And for dinner we don't want to have to go out. We are going to look at microwave convection oven combo in the next day or two to expand kitchen.
We've had a couple interesting grocery items lately. Lotte Mart either got rid of PB or moved it and we could not find it. I was at the neighborhood grocery and saw some PB. It looked a little pale, but I thought we might as well try it. We both tasted it and liked it, but it took us a minute to put our finger on the taste. It's similar to the middle of the chocolate PB ball candy I make at Christmas. So now Michael is convinced it has powdered sugar. Not tasty was some mustard sauce Michael put on his burger tonight (I had a big Kim Key salad). I bought it at the convenience store next to our apartment. It looks like regular mustard, but it's kind of sweet but with an odd taste to us. We threw it away and put mustard on our grocery list.
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