Hot Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Let me preface this post by telling you that I’m Korean – adopted from Korea as an infant, and raised in Pennsylvania. I grew up eating alot of American and Italian food. My friend (who is also adopted from Korea) invited me on a trip down to Santa Clara with her friend (another Korean), to show me the big Korean grocery store and eat Korean lunch. I like Korean food a lot but have honestly only ever eaten it a handful of times, so I’m not really familiar with the specifics of Korean food, I usually just eat/try whatever I’m given.

So after we ate lunch, we were walking through the parking lot back to the car when they spotted the roasted sweet potato stand. OMG, could this be real?! I never heard of this before… my friends couldn’t believe that I had never heard of it before – I agree especially since I lived in NYC and don’t ever remember having this on the street…

We got an order (which included 3 potatoes, one for each of us) and holy shitake, SO GOOD!!!  I’ll let the photos talk now…

Here are our potatoes, hot from the oven!

Here is the front of the stand (facing the parking lot).

Basically, you just peel off the skin and eat the potato inside. This potato was literally the hottest item I have ever put into my mouth, straight from a volcano… I swear there must’ve been lava in that oven.  You know when you eat something too hot and you have no drink to cool your throat down?  I was pretty much gagging on the heat, as I envisioned my throat being torched by this delicious sweet potato!

So freaking hot had to take a break and put it in my hand.  The potato itself was remarkably sweet and flavorful, especially for having nothing on it at all. I wished I had cash so I could get another order for the road!

If you’re ever down in Santa Clara, look for the sweet potato stand in the strip mall, and treat yo’ self!