월마트 김치 라면

Whoa blog, long time no see. But don't worry, I will never abandon you. I have too many important things to say.

Korean food has not caught on here in the same way that other Asian cuisines have. Why not? It's one of life's great mysteries. I have no idea because it is DELICIOUS. As I sit here writing, I'm drooling at the thought of kimchi stew, even on this unseasonably warm (75!) "winter" afternoon. I'd trade my left arm for some tuna kimbap or Korean BBQ. From time to time, I have read things that make me think maaaaaaaybe slowwwwwwwwly Americans are catching on. Kimchi is getting recognized for being so stinking healthy, and it's definitely possible to find it in grocery stores in larger cities. We found some at a Whole Foods a while back. There was one big problem with it and it was printed right on the jar. That one word that makes me avoid a food and search for its animal product filled counterpart. Vegan.

Oh vegans. On the one hand I respect their ability to avoid so many delicious foods for something they believe in. On the other hand, I kind of just have to laugh when I'm handed a vegan baked good and told "It's delicious!" No. I'm sorry. As a connoisseur of baked goods, I can assure said baked good is not delicious. Some of them have potential and maybe if some eggs and butter were added, they would be good. But as is...nope. Some things were not meant to be vegan-ice cream, cheese (I saw this at a store once, it made me throw up a little), anything intended to be eaten for breakfast, ANNNND I'll go ahead and add kimchi to this list.
I suppose if one digs deep enough in Korea they could find vegan kimchi. But I sure never had any. Kimchi needs fish or shrimp oil. It just does. I don't like fish. I don't like shrimp. But kimchi is missing something without one of those two things.

There are Asian supermarkets around, and I'm sure I could find nonvegan somewhere. But I honestly I haven't looked too overly hard.

So I was aimlessly walking around the grocery store aisles, and I stumbled across this. Whoa whoa whoa. I love ramen. I love kimchi. Despite being a tiny bit grossed out by the idea of their combination, I naturally had to buy it.

The result

My verdict-As I said before, I like ramen. BUT, I also admit that all the different "flavors" taste exactly the same. It doesn't matter if I'm here or in Korea, they're the same. Some of them have different levels of lip burn, and this "kimchi" flavor burns pretty good. I think the folks that make ramen noodles could save themselves a lot of time and money if they just started calling them all salt flavored. Mmmm.

Another food story, because I love food and it's my blog so I can write about whatever I want. While in France we were always strapped for money but had oodles of time. That meant my roommate/one of my all time favorite people ever ever ever Anya and I had to find cheap ways to amuse ourselves. We had plenty of things to choose from-riding around on the tram, communicating with the neighbors across the street via handwritten signs held up in the windows, making up stories about our other roommates and the landlady, and of course creating magical things in the kitchen. One evening, s'mores were on the agenda. Graham crackers don't exist in France. So we bought some cinnamon cookies called Speculoos. I'd never tried them before and it was love at first bite. Cinnamony and richer than a graham cracker, they quickly became a favorite of mine. So imagine my delight when upon returning to France the following year I found a product called Speculoos spread. It had the texture of creamy peanut butter, with the flavor of the cookies. Somehow, like magic, in spread form Speculoos became EVEN MORE DELICIOUS. Pas possible!

I parted ways with my delicious Speculoos spread when I left France and headed for Korea. My waistline thanked me, but oh sad times! The cookies are available everywhere in Korea, but no spread. I survived, but still always missed it. I googled it every now and again, to see if it was available anywhere in the US. Some people said Trader Joe's had either the cookies or the spread as a seasonal Christmas item. Finally, a few weeks ago I caved and ordered some on Amazon. The shipping alone more than tripled the cost of what I paid for it in France, but it was SO worth it. In a very unLauralike fashion, I tried to savor it. I could not run down the street to the nearest Monoprix and get more.

My jar is still half full! So imagine my delight and surprise when I saw this in the peanut butter aisle at Wal-Mart in little ol' Princeton, Illinois.

CRUNCHY!!!!!! They had the classic smooth as well, but since I still had my half jar of that at home, I opted for crunchy. I suppose I didn't need to buy any, but I wanted to support Wal-Mart's decision to carry it. And dare I say the crunchy is maaaaaaaybe even more delicious than the creamy. You all should check your grocery store to see if they have it. Buy it. You will not be disappointed. It is to die for. I want/need this product to succeed in the US.

Other happenings-

I've been feeling underwhelmed with this season's clothes. That is good, so I don't feel the need to buy anything new. Like everything just seems to scream "I try too hard!" You know the type-like putting a children's toy on a chain and calling it a necklace. It's not a fashion statement so much as a desperate cry for attention "LOOK OVER HERE! LOOK AT ME!", probably due to lack of love received growing up.

I'm having second thoughts about returning to Korea. After my visa snafu, I got things sorted out and found a different job. It doesn't start until the end of May. Bad. But everything else about it seems great. Except that I'm just not sure I want to do that again. One of my other all time favorite people is still in Korea, and I have dreams of a Mongolian adventure with her. But then I think about everything I went through while there, and I just start to have major second thoughts.

It's still winter, and the thermometer says 77 degrees. I love you, global warming.