Spent a lot of the day watching the Inauguration coverage. I have to say, I do enjoy all the orchestration, the performances, the weird trivia (I learned about the President’s limousine), the tv cameras following every move down to what they’re eating for lunch (which by the way sounded very intriguing… venison, shellfish… fancy!). I don’t know, I guess it’s voyeurism at its best. I did feel proud today to be living in the land of the free, home of the brave. There aren’t that many places where there is such peaceful transitions of power. At least it seems like that.
I also spent a very small amount of time reorganizing our spice rack. I don’t know why I bother. The little one will be in it again as soon as I turn my back. I just let him. There isn’t too much in there he can harm or can harm him, really. He’s out of the “put-everything-in-my-mouth” phase and has been for a while. I tease that maybe he’ll be the kid with the fine palate. He pulls out the small spice rack, and takes the little bottles and puts them on the floor. Then he says, “Mom! See!” and runs away. That’s about all he does.
Our spices bottles used to have that McCormick red plastic cover, then I started buying the fancier McCormick’s spices. We still have bottles (empty) from the no-name brand from our wedding registry, but some are now housing fresh spices, like the ones you see here from one of my favorite places, The Spice House. I can’t believe how nearby it is, and how long it actually took us to visit the location in Evanston. Abby can’t stand it, poor thing. She smells the place 1-1/2 blocks away when we’re walking. And, Ollie, he’s a little “klepto” thinking he’s shopping while he takes the little bottles and puts them in the stroller bag. People, if you find yourself in Evanston, and like cooking, go here. I always want to cook more when I visit, and I want to try new recipes.
Our friends, Jeff and Tricia, gave us a baker’s gift set from here at least 4 years ago, and it was only two summers ago that I actually stepped into the storefront. We’re loving the Mexican spice collection given by my sister-in-law and her fiance.
Look! I think it’s original “dot matrix” printed labels. Classic. We keep refilling these bottles.
Here’ another favorite that Eastman brought home from a cooking class at Viking Cooking School in Glenview. This is muy delicioso!
Okay, here’s our growing collection of yummy teas from TeaLula, our local tea shop. I LOVE the selections here. So many to choose from. You’ll find Ollie and myself there some mornings just hanging out with the owners, Sheila and Fred. I was considering making my own chai spice blend, but thought, 1) I already have green tea chai flavored, and 2) I should just buy some from The Spice House where they’ve already figured out a nice mix.
But this. This takes the cake. The orange came with this weird cutout. My husband pulls out the cutout and voila! A little orange peel man violating the orange. The chef was quite pleased with himself. He even said himself, normally, he makes little boys, but this one, he’s a man. The table bought the chef a drink to end the night!
