Tonight I made Eli’s Asian Salmon from Barefoot Contessa at Home. It was pretty good! A little salty, but now I can say I’ve made salmon. To make this recipe I needed items like dark sesame oil, fish sauce, oyster sauce, chili paste – all sorts of things I don’t have.

As luck would have it we have an H-Mart a few blocks away. H-Mart is a Korean supermarket with all kinds of Asian food and plenty of “American” food as well. It has an amazing produce department that’s fresh and very well-priced. The rest of the food is not quite as economical. Want some Triscuits? They’re twice the price as they are in Stop and Shop.

Here’s the problem: If you’re in your neighborhood Waldbaums and you want to find dark sesame oil, you head to the Asian food aisle. When you’re in an Asian supermarket you go to, well, you look down the um, uhh, you look for the Korean sign that says… exactly. Fast forward a half hour and I did find everything I needed, but not without the help of several salespeople.