Oh I love making tteokbokki as well (I’m stubborn and tried to make tteok myself and like it more than the store-bought version - why do I make my life hard? 
)
I’m fortunate enough to find most ingredient needed, but some are difficult to find.
(You can order perilla seeds if you like gardening)
And I love the point you made! You are right. Many of the dramas have showed me the different ways people eat the dishes, which made it feel less foreign to me 
I used to find it weird to put rice in soup, for example, and now I do it automatically!
I can imagine that is super-satisfying. I haven’t been there yet, but a SK friend who stayed at my house tried my kimchi and chicken soup and she said that I was Korean. So, I’ll take that compliment 
Yup, always have those at my house as well 
That must be so nice! I always have to be careful with kimchi in restaurants, since they tend to make them with the fermented shrimp and I’m allergic - so I make my own. But it must be great to have someplace to buy it 
I can’t remember which drama it was, but it introduced me to white kimchi, which I absolutely love! And the Korean grocery owner, who used to be a taste tester for my recipes, told me about dongchimi, another kimchi I love. It’s too bad I couldn’t find any good radishes this year to make some 