Living overseas is always an adventure in shopping; an adventure in food and different flavors and tastes. For the most part I welcome the adventure, I love sampling the local snacks, and trust me Korea has an abundance of these. I love my yogurt drinks, my banana milk, my peppero and my choco-pies. Given all the things I love, I am always a little surprised by what I miss. By what I CRAVE that I often cannot find.
These cravings take on many different form. In East Timor it was milk, fresh, cold, wholesome milk. I could have drank it by the gallon. Why milk? Simply that it wasn't available. I was reliant on boxed milk. Long shelf life milk. Gross milk. And what did I crave? Yup, my good ol' US milk. In Barbados it was fruit, namely berries. We returned to the US and I don't think I had ever eaten so many berries. Blackberries, strawberries, raspberries.
For the most part we can get everything here. Most stuff is available locally, and if it's not we do have access to the commissary (1.5 hours away). We could get everything except Yoplait. I could get Korea yoplait. It is everywhere, including the Family Mart in my apartment. But it's not the same. It's not smooth and creamy. It's not flavored the same. It's good; it's just not my yoplait. And the commissary? An major shortage on yogurt (not sure why, it just happens). Three weeks in a row of no yogurt. I would stare longingly at the empty shelves, cursing the sign that simply read "sorry for your inconvenience. boat delay."
You can only imagine my excitement this weekend when Tyler found me in the commissary and proudly announced that yogurt was back in stock. Lots of yogurt. Lots of flavors of yogurt. So what did I do? Bought enough for an entire shelf in my fridge. And it is everything I wanted it to be. So forgive me for not writing more, I am off to enjoy a yogurt. Not just any yogurt, a Yoplait yogurt. The best yogurt ever. Now I just have to pick a flavor . . . . or maybe two!
6 comments:
Nothing quite like Yoplait. Mmmmm. My fridge has tomatoes, spinach, left over rice stuff, the last of the cantaloupe that is going funky, and Tecate. Yes, that's all. But I'm out of whipped lemon meringue.... dang it, now I have to stop at the store on my way home. Ok, I had to anyway. Now there's just one more thing on the list.
Sorry, I am probably commenting on your blog way too much. But I really identified with this post! I felt the same way when we were in Seoul... I craved good, US milk that wasn't ultra-pasteurized and had the after-taste of a metal spoon. When we got to the US, I pretty much chugged milk for months.
One thing I miss about the Yongsan Commisary: the cheap Yoplait! When those chill shipments were delayed and the Yoplait was about to expire, they put Yoplait on sale for 25 each! I loaded up just like you just did! Sometimes that's all we had in the fridge... yogurt! I miss that now; it's 60 cents each in California. Sigh... you are one lucky woman.
Laurel-- you never comment too much! Keep the comments coming. As I was writing this I actually kept thinking of you and the toys after Seoul. Wonder what other things I will go crazy on when I hit the US again! And yes, cheap yogurt is nice. So very nice. In Barbados it ran us $1-$1.50 per yogurt. The commissary is heaven!
I shouldn't have read your post. Now I crave good Korean snacks. I guess I will have to make on a run on Giant and see if I can make do with just normal snacks.
That is awesome! I totally understand what you're going through. I think it is worse when you just get in from the US too, so you remember what you're missing. We're going through salsa withdrawls right now. We totally did the fruit/berry gorge this summer too. Hope the yoplait is all you wanted it to be and more!
Yoplait is the ONLY kind of yogurt I will eat. And then it has to be the peach flavor. The other brands just don't taste right, do they?
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