The irony of it all is that I pass by this little store on every visit to my parent’s house but I had to search to find it.

Several recipes in an Indian cookbook that Hannah had given me for Christmas mentioned a spice that I had never heard of and most certainly had never seen on the shelves of my local grocery store – fenugreek.

It's a necessary ingredient in homemade curry paste and since beef curry was on the menu at my house this week I couldn’t be without.  So I went on a hunt -- Internet hunt that is.

(I don’t keep a phone book or yellow pages anymore – they go straight from the front porch to my recycle bin. And I’m looking forward to the day that they stop printing those obscenely-huge-waste-of-paper books or, at the very least give me a chance to opt out of having one left at my door.)

A simple Google search, “Indian grocer, dallas”, produced the result I was looking for in 0.22 seconds -- a list of lndian grocers in Texas. 

That's how I found Star International Grocery.  While I was growing up it was a 7-11, but now this building is home to much more interesting food and spices.

Yes, they stocked fenugreek and other spices as well – cheap too. I bought a 7.5 oz bag of cinnamon sticks for $2.99.

I did the math.  That same quantity of cinnamon would cost $39.90 at my local grocer.  I know where I'll buy my cinnamon next time and at that price I can afford to toast it and freshly grind it when needed.

I also bought cumin seed, coriander seed, black mustard seed, fennel seed, cardamom pods, and dried red chili peppers.  And I discovered frozen naan bread. It warms well in the toaster and it’s a quick substitute for fresh baked naan with a meal; Ariel eats it like toast for breakfast.

What a treasure I had passed by on every visit to my parent’s house without even a glance or a second thought.  There's more to explore and spices to try.  I'll leave that for future visits.

I’m glad I went in search of fenugreek.

More on my Indian cooking adventures later.

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