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Japanese candy (pocky, KitKat, etc) is the best. The flavors are unusual and seasonal. Also, try nato (fermented soy beans). There is also a great salt-free seasoning blend called Shishimi Togarashi that is great in soups, stir fries, noodle dishes, and the like. There are several flavors of it available. If you like to make them, homemade spring rolls are far superior to bought-in, and simple to make.

What type of Asian market is it? Japanese, Chinese, Korean? Also, I'm going to warn you off the natto unless you like the smell of stinky gym socks. It's not for the faint of heart.

But that being said, the snack aisle is always my favorite - Pocky, rice crackers, dried and salted prunes, etc!

If you are feeling very adventurous, you can try getting stuff from the meat and seafood counter. (Live lobster! Live crab!) You can make Chris Cosentino's beef heart recipe because there will be plenty there, and it'll be fresh.

If it has Balut, give that a go... if you're adventurous that is.

how could I forget, wasabi peas!

Live seafood (crabs when they're fat with roe...mmm...usually they'll have a crab split open on display on the basket of live crabs to show you if the roe is good, live shrimp when the seasons right), the butcher counter, the bakery section

Sacha barbecue sauce (not sticky sweet as we might think of BBQ sauce, but rather gritty, savory with a mellow heat)
Siracha chili and garlic paste
Fruit, fresh veggies (big selection, usually very fresh)
Dried longans (makes great tea and desserts)
Glutinous rice
Za cai (preserved, salty vegetables), really good to perk up stir fried veggies like string beans
Fried shallots (comes in a little jar, ready to use)
Agar agar (in sheets or powder...more stable than gelatin and vegan to boot)
Almond tofu (agar agar based jello like powder)
Grass jelly
Young coconuts (the outer shells have been hacked off, leaving a liquid filled cylinder. Lop off the top, drink the sweet coconut water, then scrape the inside walls with a spoon to get at the jelly-like young coconut flesh)
Mirin or another kind of rice wine for cooking
Fish sauce

KarynMC: What kind of aged duck eggs? Do you mean the salted ones or the thousand year old eggs?
Either one is great with congee, though thousand year old eggs have this unctuous sulphurous flavor that might be off putting (but its definitely mellowed by the rice porridge...).
Both of these preserved products keep for a LONG time, they're often sold unrefrigerated, so you know these things keep like Twinkies, so don't worry about having to find a lot of uses for them!

As for recipes, Karyn, looking at the list of your newly acquired ingredients, try panfrying squares of tofu briefly to give them a bit of a crunchy coat, then sauce them with light soy, fermented black beans and scallions.

See if they carry frozen wonton and/or spring roll rappers - so fun to concoct your own fillings!

For snacks I can't get enough preserved sweetened plums and ginger.

Sesame oil is also a good staple to have on hand.

Coconut jam (in a can) is delicious on milk toast or homemade bread with roasted sliced almonds on top! MMm.

My favorite thing about the new market near me (owned by a Korean family, from what I gather) is the produce...gorgeous, fresh, and CRAZY cheap as compared to my local supermarket! I'm also happy because it's about 2 blocks away, so I can walk over there.

i discovered this year a few things...

kombu - a salty algae to season soups or braised greens
agar agar - i use it as a gelatin substitute to make strawberry kanten
umeboshi paste and vinegar - it's salty fermented plums... sounds weird but it's a wonderful addition to mayo-free coleslaw and to dress lentil soups
wasabi peas - add them like croutons to a ceasar salad

And I have always liked the idea of using wonton wrappers to make ravioli and other stuffed pasta dishes... I once found a version without eggs but I have never seen it again...

Ahhhh - and buy some nice fancy chopsticks to eat all the fancy Asian food you'll be preparing.

Madelyn.
KarmaFree Cooking

Kimchi sauteed with thinly sliced pork and scallions...mmm...great over rice!

I was just at the Asian market today looking for stuff for dinner...

Pea shoots! One of my favorite leafy greens. Don't be afraid to reach into the bag and give a sprig a pinch and a bend or two to make sure theyre crisp and young. If they're flabby or the stems don't snap without too much effort, then they'll be old and tough. Great stir fried with just some garlic.

And mushrooms abound, from golden straw mushrooms to gigantic King mushrooms (these mushrooms are big, dense and meaty. Slice them and sautee in XO sauce), fresh shitake, etc.

Unfortunately I was feeling lazy today and just went for the broccoli...I just didn't feel like sitting there and picking over a pile of greens, today.

My impulse buy for the day was a small box of milk-flavored Pocky. I don't usually eat snacks like this, but I grew up on Pocky...and milk is a favorite flavor, just hard to find.
The seasonal Pumpkin flavor (rather butterscotchy) also reappeared, but it was in Halloween packaging, and I was very wary of that...

KarynMC: A favorite way to use salted duck eggs in this family is to top rou bing ("meat cake"...wow that sounds unappetizing).
The meat is ground pork mixed with ground jicama, ginger, garlic and other seasonings. You can usually get a decent already-prepared ground pork mixture in the butcher counter of the market. Layer the meat in a shallow dish and on top, stud with several yolks of salted duck eggs (you can buy packages of the yolks alone...deep orange and even translucency usually indicates quality).
Steam over a water bath until the meat is cooked through.

Fresh noodles, Kasai(?) gummy candy- fun to read those packages! I love the muscat grape kind especially. Our H-mart has great meat/seafood- for cheap too! I second or third the siracha chili.
What I love most is every trip there is an adventure!