Tsp spices

I'm not enough of a cook to have lots of different spice bottles in my kitchen, but I've often come across a situation when I need, say, anise for a recipe and I don't want to pay the hefty price for an entire bottle of it, knowing that I probably won't be using it a ton in the future, only to have it sit there for months (okay, let's be honest, maybe years?) unused.

Enter tsp spices. Each of their spices comes in a pre-measured 1 tsp. packet, which is contained in an orderly tin. How fab would it be to simply have these tins stacker or lined in a cabinet or drawer, instead of the mish-mash of bottles (or worse, the cheesy matching spice rack - no offense, wedding-registry people)?

According to its founders, two ladies who felt "utter despair that we could ever maintain an orderly spice cabinet – and the frustration of finding one too many stale bottles of cardamom or coriander," tsp spices sells all organic spices. The packaging is simple and clean, and the tins come either in single spices or variety packs. If I ever cooked (cough), these would be great, or better yet as gifts for the more crafty folks in our family.

Summer grilling

As I mentioned in an earlier post, summer in Annapolis is synonymous with boating. But it's also synonymous with grilling and barbecuing with friends. At our friends' house last summer, B was too impatient to wait for one of the bacon cheeseburgers that was still on the grill, so instead he grabbed one of the barbecue chicken breasts that was ready, piled it on to a burger bun along with the intended bacon, cheese, lettuce and tomato, as well as some additional guacamole (avocado works too) et voila, a masterpiece was born.

Since then, our friends have made it a regular entree at our casual summer fetes and we love to make it for an easy, delicious summer grilled sandwich.

My mom gave me a bunch of magazines the other day (she reads them, then passes them on to me, then I give them to my book club girls - recycling at its best!) and I really liked perusing through the new Food Network magazine. I happened to notice that the cover features one of Bobby Flay's favorite burgers - which looks just like B's concoction (except swap his BBQ chicken for the original burger as discussed).



Delicious and easy. Either with a burger or BBQ chicken, with the addition of avocado (or guacamole), cheese, bacon and toppings, it's truly delish. Pair with a summer drink and you're all set for a party or a casual evening dinner. I'm getting hungry just writing about it. Mmm....