Eating Korean on $15 a Day

The university where I'm teaching has no meal plan. They told me I could buy meals nearby for about $5 each, which indeed seems to be the going rate. Just for fun, I'd thought I'd do show-and-tell and give you an accounting of today's eats. The bagel place across the street was not yet open when I went out for BREAKFAST, so I ended up at Starbucks for a breakfast sandwich, $4.70. I had noticed tomato juice at the 7-Eleven, so I stopped for some on the way back to Room Sweet Room. The miniscule bottle was $2.90, but I needed some veggies. (By the way, it tasted very much like sweet tomatoes run through a blender. There were even seeds in it.) I was already ahead of budget, so I was happy to find a $3 LUNCH at a convenience store. Kimbap is the Korean version of a sushi roll but chubbier. I remember my Korean students getting competitive over how many ingredients their mothers could stuff in a roll. One of the guys boasted his mom could do nine. By my count, this had at least seven, including bulgogi (Korea barbecued beef), crab, carrot, and daikon radish. The tastes are meant to go together, so you're expected to pop a whole slice into your mouth at one time, which can be a challenge. I really needed a break from my work, so I decided to go to a restaurant for DINNER. I made my selection by taking a photo from the menu board out front and then ate the meal while watching a Korean dating show. The main dish is rice with egg and veggies: lettuce, bean sprouts, cucumber, enoki mushrooms, radish, and seaweed. From right to left, the other bowls around my plate were noodle soup with tofu, pickled daikon radish, kimchi (fermented cabbage with chilies), and red hot chili paste. Delicious, filling, and a good value for $5.50. That brought my daily total to $15.10, just over budget (but I did save half of the kimbap for tomorrow).