The Ricotta Quest

Yes, I went on a quest for cheese.

This was actually my third quest since arriving in Seoul and I'm not embarrassed at all to say that my quests all involve something very American, usually culinary in nature. The main quest was finding Costco, others have included making chicken tortilla soup and real Southern sweet tea. All turned out oh-so-good. Today's quest came as a result of RCP requesting a simple pasta dish for dinner of penne and broccoli....with ricotta. I hate recipes that call for ricotta. All of my what-seam-like-simple pasta dishes always call for a small quarter of a cup and no matter how small a container of it I buy, there's ALWAYS some leftover that never gets used. Oh, and there's ALWAYS a special trip to the grocery store just for this bland, just-a-little-too-soft, unexceptional cheese. Ricotta is just a hassle.

From what I've read, when Korean's want foreign food they just go out to eat since they primarily only cook Korean at home. Of course they do. Who wants to go searching every expat mart for ricotta or really anything for that matter that American's cook with? But an American's mentality is why go out to eat pasta when you can easily cook it at home? Well, this is before they realize the recipe calls for ricotta. (However, I guess the Korean's going out for foreign food is no different than my going out for Korean food. Who knows, maybe I'll start cooking Korean food at home; highly doubt it, but maybe.)

Anyway, the only saving grace about this quest is that it did yield some other American comforts. It should have. It took two marts, two hours and a hike up a very steep hill to find the ricotta. Of course I'm going to bring home more than just cheese.

 You look like a fancy market for foreigners! I bet you have all kinds of cheeses!

Sure enough, they had a great cheese selection: Camembert, brie, smoked gouda, mozzerella......

but of course, no ricotta. Seriously? You have Camembert but not 

common, average, unexceptional ricotta?

 Ok High Street Market, I will forgive you.

You carry the one food that I could live off of and have missed so much!

Chedder flavor only.

Despite having no ricotta, it was quite a charming display of familiarity. 

I particulary liked the "Mexican Goodies Section".

So the quest continued....

Ladies, have you seen a place called the "Foreign Food Market"?

There you are, my last hope. 

The Foreign Food Mart is located off the main street in Itaewon, 

up a hill lovingly referred to as "Hooker's Hill"....

......yes, whatever you're thinking you're right....

but it was too early in the day for them to be out....I told you Itaewon was "dirty".

And there, below the hooka's, was the ricotta.

I would have rather gone on a quest for the babaghanoush to the right. 

Babaghanoush is worthy of a quest.

Also, on the ricotta label it says "suitable for vegetarians".
I'm not sure what that means because some vegetarians don't eat dairy. 

Hmmm.....so it might not be exactly like regular ricotta. Don't tell RCP. He'll never know.

Despite it's location, this particular expat mart is really fantastic. 

Run by Indian's (like the smaller expat mart across the street from home),

they had a huge selection for both Americans and Indians alike.

  When I spotted these pecans, I got almost as excited as when I found the Goldfish, 

because I have a fantastic recipe for what I refer to as a "grown-up quesadilla":

melted Camembert cheese and chopped pecans between two tortillas.

Delicious, but at $27, the quesadilla can wait until we go to Texas and I

pay a visit to the pecan orchard down the street.

This is what two hours yielded, with the most exciting being the cans of condensed soup 

because it means that I can now make my beloved King Ranch Chicken Casserole. 

I will definitley owe the future success of my favorite casserole to all the Indian's 

who seem to own all of the expat marts in Seoul, because yesterday I found 

tortillas at one and today I found cream of chicken and mushroom at another. 

Casserole Season is upon us! Gotta have condensed soup!

I saw this on the way home, AFTER finding the cheese.

Had I seen this BEFORE finding the cheese, 

we'd be having something different for dinner tonight.
I would MUCH rather have a mani/pedi than penne with ricotta on top.