Spices!

I am totally excited about the variety of quality, inexpensive spices available. Every time I go to D-Mart I get more. I fully intend to buy every single spice they stock. Probably not all of the masala mixes, though this picture does include dosa and sambhar mix.

So far most of the spices are pretty familiar. I picked up some Jaipatri (Mace), the dried lacy reddish stuff covering nutmeg seeds. I'd heard of it, but had no practical knowledge of it. It indeed smells just like nutmeg, but is milder I guess? I was surprised to find they don't seem to carry the usual green cardamom pods. I did find Elaichi (black cardamom). It smells like campfires.