Ahira's Hangar

We found a spice merchant today in Ann Arbor at the specialty mall called Kerrytown that is next to the Farmer's Market. Wow! Did it ever smell good in there! All sorts of spices, teas, soup mixes, spice mixtures, and hot chocolates.

We got a couple of meat rubs (one a mild curry and another a sweet/hot mixture with raspberries and hot peppers) and some cilantro (I grow it in the summer, but it is really hard to get fresh in the winter - the winters here kill it off, so a back up supply of dried is welcome).

We probably spent a good hour in there. It was just fascinating looking at everything and smelling everything.

Some things I want to go back and get someday:
packets of mulling spices for apple cider/wine
many other meat rubs
some of the soup mixes (like pumpkin chowder) looked interesting
some of the teas and hot chocolates looked interesting, too
powdered New Mexico chiles - red, green, and a couple of other sorts, too!
candied ginger for baking


edited: their website:

Have you ever heard of Penzey's? I have a friend who gets their catalog.

http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html

They opened one (relatively) near me last year; I keep meaning to go but haven't made it there yet.