This past week, I’ve eaten out so much at lunch and taken most of it home that my evening meals have been all about leftovers or dinner out with friends. Not to mention last night’s bag of pita chips and my “leftovers” of the hummus I’d made back on Sunday sounded way better than anything I could have whipped up on the stove. Between that and working late a couple of nights, time just wasn’t conducive to kitchen experiments.
Still, I felt the need to write about something foodie-related this week. As Fate would have it, when I checked my mail on Wednesday morning before heading to work, the perfect topic fell into my hand by way of a catalog. That very same catalog kicked off numerous conversations about it, as it usually does, having left it sitting out on my desk all week. All I’d done with it so far was tear out the coupon from the back page, and left it on my desk where I could get back to it later.
This is me getting back to it later; my boss took the catalog home for the weekend.
Anyone who knows me will not be surprised by this post. I’ve been talking about this place for years. I can’t even remember when or how I first heard of them, but I recommend them to practically everyone I know who likes to cook, which is just about everybody. I’ve even given boxed sets as white elephant gifts every other year at work ~ not intentionally, mind you, but when you have extras you want to share.
I like to think of it as bringing others into my not-so-secret spices club. How do I do this? Easy! I simply keep a jar of what I consider the best seasoning for popcorn ever in my desk drawer, and when someone makes a bag in the microwave ~ the kitchen’s about ten feet outside my office door ~ I grab the jar and stalk them back to their office and say, “Here, try this!”
Sprinkle, sprinkle. Sounds of happy taste buds. Request for more sprinkles on the popcorn followed by demand to know where to get more. So I tell them:
This great little shop is based out of Wisconsin, and it’s probably one of my friends in Minnesota who first turned me onto them. I don’t know for sure, but I think they’ve got just about every spice you can think of, and a few they’ve made up themselves. A lot of the spice mixes are also salt-free, so if you’re watching your sodium intake, this might not be a bad place to look into.
They also have marvelous mixtures of peppercorns, blends for dressings and marinades, barbeque rubs, and seasoned salt combinations. For the basic spices, they’ve got different varieties that have different profiles depending on how you might wish to use it. Their stock of dried goodies isn’t too shabby either; for the cucumber dressing Mom made on Sunday, she used the dried red and green peppers and they worked wonderfully.
Now, if you’re lucky enough to have a Penzeys store in your city, GO THERE and check it out for yourself. Just last year they opened a store here in Austin, and boy can I lose a couple of hours walking around in there deciding what I need (and often I get something I don’t just because). Half of what I bought that first day ended up in a care package for my aunt’s Christmas gift, and the others ended up in my Christmas stocking!
Faced with these new little jars of tasty possibilities, I ended up needing to reorganize my kitchen cabinets because I had run out of room for all the jars and bags of spices I now owned. These goodies, along with that new food processor Santa left under the tree, were just another hint that maybe this year I could do something other than collect Styrofoam drink cups from my favorite burger joint on the corner.
Even now I’m wondering, am I out of something so that I need to stop by one night after work? Probably not, but hey, that’s half the fun!
Oh, before I forget… check out the “Go to Market” links at the bottom of the page; I’ve added one for Penzeys. You know, in case you need it later because you forgot to bookmark it. ;)
