[Northkeep] Drop Talana in a spice merchant's shop and watch her go

[Susan O'Neal]

Ahhh, sounds like we need to plan a pillage soon and maybe a fun cooking
day.  I love when you take us through the 'notions' and give us all the ways
we can use them.  Once Jim is beyond his next stage of torture in a few
weeks, I would happily open our house up for a cooking day where you can
share your secrets.  I have a small store of spices to start from, the Spice
Godess and a few others have had me hitting my favorite Indian market to
build up my stores-though I have no idea how long of trip they took to get
to me.  Anjum has been teaching me the easy way to make Indian food and has
a simple way to make Naan, Bal demonstrated a couple Roti variations, and
Aarti showed me how to make Chapatties this last week.  I am ready to move
beyond the packet Indian food like I brought to the December Grub and Garb
and really, really want to work on some of the breads.  That and I'd love to
learn the nuances of the different regions Garum Masallas.  I have learned
the secret to mango lassi, so we can be sipping these as we treasure the
other things.

Can't wait to visit Spiceology,
Susan the Curious

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 9:01 PM, Jennifer Carlson <talana1 at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> Tulsa . . . has an epicier!
>
> Spiceology opened this week in the Farm Shopping Center, just north of
> Hancock's Fabrics, in the space once occupied by the Game Shop.  I have been
> waiting eagerly since the sign went up over the door before Christmas.  Last
> night, while making an emergency run for thread at Hancock's, I saw that
> they had finally opened for business, but alas, had closed for the day.
>  This morning the Tulsa World and an article on the store, which opened
> yesterday: so, of course, I beelined for the shop after work this evening,
> and was delighted at what I found.
>
> The shop is set up like a boutique, meaning that the display cases are
> small and the shop has a lot of open space, but hey - their product is all
> in small bottles, so there is a great deal of stock to drool over.  You'll
> see test tubes among the bottles - those are display samples you are welcome
> to sniff.  They package and label their own goods, and the colors and scents
> of their wares tell you this stuff hasn't spent five years in a leaky
> Italian galley coming from Cathay by way of India, to be held in an Adriatic
> port for another year until it's packed and shipped to Paris, with upcharges
> and price hikes along the way, until a poor London housewife can hardly
> afford a bit of cinnamon for her camaline sauce, and peppercorns become a
> form of currency.
>
> I immediately scooped up a jar of Ceylon cinnamon - that's cinnamomum
> verum, or true cinnamon, not the cassia that we're used to.  True cinnamon
> has a more delicate scent and flavor.  It was $3.49 for .9 ounces - you
> can't beat that.  Also for $3.49 I snagged a bottle of garam masala.  It's
> so fresh the aroma smacks you.  Diarmaid is looking forward to a tikka
> masala dinner soon.
>
> I made myself pass over whole and ground corianders and cardamoms and
> nutmegs.  They have juniper berries, allspice, mace, and cloves.  They have
> jars of grains of paradise that make the tiny packets from High Gravity look
> stingy.  One display case is devoted to salts - sea salt and mined salt;
> white, gray, and pink.  There's even a salt that our friends who ride the
> Mongolian Steppes would be familiar with.  For those whose cookery leans
> toward the grill, you can take your pick of mixtures and rubs.  If you need
> extracts, you can find high-quality vanilla (I confess I didn't examine
> those as closely, as my wallet was making mewling noises and I knew if I
> didn't leave soon, it would be ramen noodles for dinner till payday).
>
> I was hoping for long pepper, cubebs, and blade mace, but at least for now,
> their stock is a tad more mainstream.  The owners (a husband and wife),
> however, said they are open to doing special orders, and took notes about
> the long pepper in particular.
>
> I am not being paid anything by Spiceology - I'm not getting kickbacks or
> free merchandise for talking them up (though that's something to discuss
> with them).  My reason for emoting is far more selfish:
>
> We have a spice merchant in town.  The prices for some of these items -
> when you can find them - at local grocers would make a Geonese trader
> petition for price controls.  Let's do what we can to get them up and
> running and keep them that way.
>
> Oh, and their hours are 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, Tuesday through Saturday.
>
> Now, back to making candy,
>
>
> Talana
>
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