I just spent way too much money at Penzey's.

[eyesroll]

I suppose, after this and my trip to Mitsuwa (which is Monday of next week), I will be more than ready for school (well, for the cooking during school that OLL said I'll have no time for or interest in...but we'll see).

I went through my Penzey's catalog and my spice drawers (yes, plural) and figured out what I needed (and what I "needed"), and what I had plenty of. So, I bought hot curry powder, sweet curry powder, bell peppers, natural cocoa powder, tumeric, epazote, galangal, celery seed, nutmeg, sage, vanilla extract, vegetable base, ground cumin and ground coriander. Pretty much everything else is covered. I now have one large drawer overflowing with spices, and one large drawer overflowing with herbs and blends. :bounce:

[joneschick]

1. what? no imported salt?

I keed, I keed!! I couldn't resist. Although http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/results.html

I need to visit Penzey's sometime soon, it smells so wonderful. I just visited their website and they're hiring. hmmmmm

btw, what is galangal? sounds so very interesting. :hi:

[eyesroll]

3. Galangal is a root used in Thai cooking.

I use it once in a blue moon, but since it's nearly impossible to find fresh (without schlepping), dried is good.

(BTW: I have some Penzey's Fleur de Sel from a million years ago.)

[mike_c]

7. buy a bunch of fresh galanga, slice and freeze in a ziplock bag....

Much better than dried, lasts for years.

[NMDemDist2]

2. whaaaa

i wish I had drawers for my spices :cry:

but it sounds like a plan to me :bounce:

[eyesroll]

4. I have 7 drawers in my kitchen. Two hold silverware, one holds gadgets,

and two hold colanders, bowls, instruction manuals and other random crap.

In my previous two kitchens, I've installed wire spice racks on the door or walls of the pantry, but there's no pantry here.

There's a remarkable amount of storage space here. Counter space, not so much, but we cope.

[NMDemDist2]

5. i have 4 narrow ones and that's it

but I did contract a guy to make me a couple more for under the espresso machine

*note to self, call that guy tomorrow and see how it's going*

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

6. Did you get the double Madascar vanilla extract?

I love, love, love that stuff. Friends (who of course are friends, so of course they'll be nice, & I should take everything they say with a grain of salt-sea salt) always tell me my baked goods are the best. I think it's the vanilla. I really do. The only other thing I do differently is I use baker's sugar.

[spinbaby]

8. We get our spices at the Mennonite store

Nice and fresh and cheap, too. Plus, they have plenty of baking supplies that are hard to find anywhere else--potato flour, clear gel, sanding sugar, and about a billion kinds of cupcake sprinkles.