What I Had for Lunch Today: Korean Noodle Soup

One of my favorite places to shop is Tran's World Food Market in Hadley, Mass. It's open seven days a week, from early morning till wicked late, and carries an unbelievable assortment of Asian foods. It's my source of Lan Chi Chili Sauce with Garlic, masaman curry paste, and other neccessaries of my pantry. Lemons and limes are about a dime, scallions have the tops left on, the ginger is always fresh. There's a little Oriental Grocery a few blocks from me, on Main Street in the South End, and I try to patronize it, too, but I can't always find what I'm looking for there.

In both places, I'm apt to carry off some product I've never tried, for just that reason. I think this packet of Korean noodle soup was something I ended up with from the Oriental Grocery when they didn't have what I'd gone in there for.

The packet came with enough two-foot-long noodles for two servings, two seasoning packets, and two tiny packets of something that looked and tasted like motor oil, had nothing but Korean writing on it, and wasn't mentioned in either the directions or the ingredient list.

To the packet ingredients I added water, a couple of hard-boiled eggs, some asparagus, and some bamboo shoots in hot chili oil. It was already quite spicy. It's supposed to be eaten cold, but who wants to eat cold soup when it's barely 50 degrees in the house?