Japchae

A friend of mine, who is also a study buddy, kindly cooked Japchae for me yesterday! Japchae is a Korean fried noodle with vegetables, and she added shrimp and fish cakes called Oden in Korea. This is just an aside, but what is called Oden in Korea is 'Satsuma-age' (fish cake) in Japan. It's weird... because 'Oden' in Japan is a name of a dish, not an ingredient; but in Korea, all kinds and shapes of Satsuma-age are called 'Oden'.
My favorite part was the chewy noodle made from sweet potato!! Anyway, her Japchae was more than scrumptious. Thank you, MK! you are such a great cook ;)

Meantime, I'm the kind of person who gets very excited about things quickly and moves into action fast. Today, I rushed into Zion Marketplace (Korean Supermarket).
In San Diego where various races exist, you will find the supermarkets from all over the world. It is one of the benefits for those who live here and are curious about other cultures.

Although most of the products in Zion were displayed in Korean character, I could find out what to buy with the help of affable other shoppers. Whenever I was standing in a quandary, they talked to me first in Korean, and then changed to English as soon as they realized that I didn't speak Korean. They helped me out a lot and even advised the brand names to buy!

Let me show you what I got today; noodle for Japchae, powder for Jijimi and other noodle for Raengmyeon.