My first stop was the "shopette" on post. This convenience-type store doesn't have a huge selection, but sometimes it will surprise you by carrying something random that you just happen to be needing at the moment; I was hoping it would come through with some Rice Krispies and marshmallows, or at least some nuts and dried fruit. But it was not to be. I left with only a few packs of M&Ms.
My next stop was Lotte Mart--similar to my beloved E-Mart, and very much like a Korean Super Target. I wandered the grocery section, hoping to be struck by inspiration or some miracle marshmallows. But, no. They had nuts, but the only dried fruit other than jujube berries (which may be delicious, but as they are untested in my trail mix I decided to pass) came in very small, very expensive packets. That would not do. Since it was looking like I was going to have to bake from scratch, picked up some eggs, and started looking around for the butter. Lotte Mart had a surprising selection of cheese (Asians in general not being too big on dairy), but I didn't see any butter in any of the refrigerator cases. It was looking bad for the good guys. In circling back around however, I walked through the Korean junk food aisle, and into a display of Choco-Pies. They're kind of like Korean Moon Pies, and decently yummy. I hesitated. We're not allowed to sell packaged goods from the commissary, since they're sold to military members at a discount and the profits go back into the family support funds anyway, but anything we buy "out in town" is fair game. Still. Did I really want to be THAT wife? You know (well, at least those of you who have lived in the South) that mom who brings Twinkies to potlucks?
Yes. Yes, I was willing to be THAT wife. I was running out of options, after all, and needed a fall-back plan in case my from-scratch baking was less than successful. And it wasn't like I was going to put my name on the Choco-Pies.
That decision made, I continued the hunt for butter. I asked an employee ajumma. "But-toh?" "Yep." "Uhhh...wait a minute, please." Hmm. That didn't sound promising. While I waited, and it was more than a minute, or even a few minutes, while she consulted two ajummas and searched the refrigerator cases, I wandered over to the paper products section. I was delighted to find some cute baggies and boxes--perfect for a bake sale. Now if the ajumma could just find me some butter...
"Yogi-yo" she called--"over here." She was back in the cheese case. I came over. She picked up a package stuck between the "kids' chee-juh product" and some white cheese. It was indeed but-toh. It was just individually-wrapped but-toh. I gave an involuntary shudder.
I will pause here for a disclaimer about my deployment on the aircraft carrier--it was not scary. Unlike my soldier-husband's deployment, there were no improvised explosive devices, terrorists, or shots fired in fear or fury. There were, however, chocolate chip cookie cakes. I had started the practice of making cookie cakes for my sailors' birthdays (if you can't beat 'em, bribe 'em) when we were in port, and didn't think it would be fair to miss birthdays just because we were underway. So I worked out a drug deal--a few hyper-caffeinated beverages and an extra plate of cookies each time--and the ship's cooks let me bake in their kitchen, with my cookie mix and their eggs and butter. Only, resupply on a ship is affected by things like weather, operational tempo, and logistics routes, and the four thousand or so sailors on the ship ate a lot of butter. It happened on multiple occasions that the galley--the ship's kitchen--was out of butter blocks. And it turns out chocolate chip cookies baked with olive oil have a funny, vaguely vegetable, aftertaste. So, adapt and overcome. Turns out butter blocks go faster than butter pats--the individual servings used for toast, pancakes, etc. So I would hang out in the galley, sweating in my uniform, trying to stay out of the way of the real cooks trying to feed four thousand people, peeling butter patties for what seemed like an hour but was probably only twenty minutes or so.
So back to Lotte Mart. I suddenly had a vision of spending the evening peeling butter pats, and almost went back to the Choco-Pie aisle to pick up a few more boxes and maybe see if I could find some Korean Twinkies. The ajumma must have seen the look on my face, because she reached down and handed me another package--a blessed but-toh block. I gave a sigh of relief. It didn't matter that the butter was labeled in grams instead of tablespoons or that it cost $6. "I'll take it!"
And that, friends and family, is how I came to supply made-from-scratch cookies and breakfast breads and bought-from-Lotte-Mart Choco-Pies for our inaugural Cobra Company Bake Sale.
Tomorrow I'm going to the commissary to stock up on Rice Krispies.
My darling, it is incredible that you had to go thru this much for the bake sale. Michael should be thanking you for thousand times. When I was growing up in Korea, we didn't have butter, but only margarine. Butter and cheese were introduced much later to the common people. Strangely (I am sure that is still the case in Korea), people like to have cheese when they drink wine or beer. Don't know why. I enjoyed reading. Thank you. We love you.
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