Things I won't have to buy for a Year.

Mustard--- We had a big jar of super hot dijan (the smooth kind in France), then my mother in law cleaned out her apartment downstairs and gave us two more, one creamy with mayo and another rustic with mustard seeds (oddly they don't call this dijon style here). I looked in my cupboard, I already had an organic one with honey and one tiny bottle of champagne style from Reims. Then last week granpa forced a bottle of plain old "forte" mustard into our wicker basket. The opposite of going to grandparents house with a basket of goodies, we come home with the goods from their house.

Vinegar--oh my, we have some hooch that will last us forever. Add to that my organic apple cider vinegar that is good for you health, to the giant bottle of white vinegar with tarragon steeped inside, or that lovely raspberry vinegar that is fabulous with goat cheese salad to my special "hot" piment d'espelette thick and spicy vinegar from the Basque region. There is some balsamic left from our Italy trip and some hot thai pepper vinegar that I made as well. Let's not forget the brow rice vinegar and Sake vinegar in my Asian cupboard section. Lordie, let's not talk about the four hoisin sauces. Time to make some chinese food!

Soup Mixes--grandpa also wanted to get rid of all the cartoned soups (experation 2008). His food now comes from a "meals on wheels" service run by the govt. He is eating pretty well and hates to waste all those things that mamie had stocked the pantry with. We take him a big lunch every Sunday and in trade he gives us random things from the cupboards. (Last time it was a humongous jar of pickles--same story as the mustard, we got MIL cornichons too!) Now, our pantry runneth over! Fish soup, tomato, chicken, vegetable soups galore; I will use them as some basis for many a hearty winter meal.

black pepper, salt, chili powders, &c --spices in general--I have five kinds of salt (with algue for fish, hymalaian rose, rock, table and Kosher) and a lot of black and green hot peppercorns that I picked up in Egypt and then my favorite rose peppercorns that I forget to use, but should more often. My spice drawer is overloaded with tagine mixes, marsalas, ras hanouts, curries, cinnamon sticks, cardamon pods in green and black cracked state, whole nutmegs rolling around with black poppy seeds, ground cumin and ground coriander to accompany the ground ginger in bulk. It is about time that I use up those remnants of chili seeds (or plant them!) chili powders from 3 sources, one from KL (not for export it says), turmeric, ground ginger, mace; you see where this is going. I also have 20 bell jars filled with oregano, anise, whole coriander seeds and fennel seeds (need to plant those too!) sumac, lebanese zataar (perfect baked on flatbread or in falafels) fenugreek, saffron, a giant jar of cloves from Jerusalem, over flowing lavender and more in my closets (stuffing for pillows). My garden provides me with thyme, rosemary and oregano fresh and thai and sweet basil seasonally. Spices only last for so long, I have to use them up! (Anyone want to trade some spices for some arugula seeds?)