Alternatively, this post could be titled "Hot Damn, produce is expensive in Korea."
I went grocery shopping today. It was pretty dramatic. An old lady worker came over and yelled at me until I bought the cheaper onions, which was nice of her. A young man worker tried to get me to buy his meat. (I know, I know, that's what she said.) He spoke English and made me promise that next time I would buy some meat. I said that I only would if he was selling smaller quantities, because I am all alone and I no longer have to bring my lunch to work, so I don't need kilos of the stuff. We pinky swore, at his initiative.
I got: olive oil, cider vinegar, pasta sauce, milk, parmesan cheese, butter, soybean paste, black pepper, salt, some sort of strange but tasty vegetable herb seasoning, laughing cow cheese triangles, caramel tea, a snickers almond bar, ham, eggs, fake crab, popcorn, onions, pasta, a half loaf of bread, nectarines, cucumber, cereal, and peanut butter. It all came out to 81.000 won, or 72 dollars, or 16.500 forint.
The eggs and fake crab were quite cheap. The peanut butter was reasonable-for-abroad: about 6 dollars for Skippy Super Crunch isn't bad. The package of nectarines was six dollars, and the cucumbers were a dollar each. The laughing cow was about five dollars. I wept inside, but I needed some (ohh, cheese...) and it was the same price as the scary Kraft singles-esque stuff.
It's a good thing I don't have to eat at home much. Because a little box of tomatoes is like 7 dollars. And three tiny peppers cost 6 dollars. Don't even get me started on crackers.
Soybean paste is the most epic thing. It's spicy and sweet. I'm so excited to taste it on top of a fried egg.
