SC - a funny thing

[Magdalena]

>How do you all organise your spices?

I have a nifty lazy susan with that will corral a dozen 'standard' spice 
jars and two dozen half sized jars.  They are all mostly empty because I 
found out quickly that even the larger size is too small for some spices, 
and the smaller size not small enough for other spices.  So, most of the 
spices live in bags, boxes and tins in the next cabinet over.  The spices I 
use a lot of, it's not worth the trouble to transfer them to bottles, the 
spices I use a little of, it's easier to go buy a tiny bit when I'm planning 
to need it. Fresher too.  I can see this might change when I don't have 2 
good spicers within walking distance.

The overall kitchen storage and cash budget arrangements means I can't 
purchase or store a wide enough variety of items to just launch into an 
unplanned cooking binge when inspired by my reading, so instead I jump up 
and start making the next weeks grocery list. (budget demands that 
experiments must become a meal. so I think carefully before cooking.)

>Do you all alphabetize
>or otherwise sort your spices/herbs?

The often used are in the front of the cabinet.  The less often used are 
loosely arranged into spices vs. herbs vs. stuff Tony uses when cooking 
(Tony cooks Asian food, I cook western food.  He requires stuff like dried 
funges and quite a few things whose only english label reads 'dried 
vegetable')  Vinegars, oils, syrups/honeys/molasseses, soy sauces, salts and 
sugars that are not the standard kind, hot sauces, cocoas and cooking 
chocolates and other stuff in large bottles and jars take up the two shelves 
above the spices.  They are in rows by category.
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