consumables: just the beginning & the Spice House
I can't quite remember the first time I heard about "consumables", but I was thrilled to find out that the State Department determines which posts around the world have a harder time getting their hands on typical American goods and deems them a "consumables" post. For two years in Shenyang, we're allotted 2500 lbs. of consumables to be shipped to post for free. This can be anything that will be used up over the course of our time at post- toiletries, food, beverages, cosmetics, cleaning products, etc.
From what I've heard about Shenyang and what I remember about living in Asia, most things you can find if you go to the right place and pay the right price. Still having a supply on hand would be quite lovely.
So a major question everyone faces is- what will I put in my consumables shipment? I've thought back to being in Asia and tried to remember what brought the most joy in a care package? Or what did we take 2 buses across the city to procure? It's a delightful dilemma to face and I'm pretty sure I'm up for the challenge.
Thankfully we can send half of our shipment when we leave and the 2nd half in a year or so. That way we don't have to store two years worth of supplies in our Chinese apartment. So I've started a spreadsheet trying to think through what we will bring. For a while I could only get as far as chocolate chips. I know we'll want chocolate chips. But what else...
It's helped to start thinking in categories and go from there, but it will be interesting to see what we end up with when we get there and whenever our shipment gets there.
Last week one of our favorite places The Spice House was waiving their shipping fees so I went ahead and loaded up on ancho chili powder, curry, incredible vanilla extract, chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, hot cocoa mix (I'm pretty sure we'll be out of that sooner rather than later in the dead of winter in Shenyang) and other incredible spices. It's hard not to just break into it now but I know it will be great to get it organized and put it to use for some homemade dishes when we're oh-so-far from this home.
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| doesn't it look warm & inviting? hoping one day we can make the pilgrimage! |
Despite never visiting the Spice House's brick & mortar storefront, it holds a special place in my heart. About 2 months after R & I started dating in Asia, I had to return to the US for some training for 3 months over the summer. We skyped a couple times a week, and we were both keeping our cards pretty close to the chest. I already liked him a LOT, but what I believe really won my mom & seester over was a shipment from the spice house to my mom's in Indian Shores. Along with Korintje cinnamon, greek seasoning which when added to yogurt transforms a simple chicken pita sandwich into a gyro, and moroccan seasoning (which everyone should order and sprinkle on sweet potato fries immediately), he included a note that read: "If I can't take you to dinner, at least I can help you make dinner." Swoon.
Then when we were engaged Mama C made it down for a bridal shower of mine and can you guess her gift? A full (and I do mean complete) collection of spices from the spice house. I'm not even sure she realized her son had sent me the care package over a year ago, getting me hooked on their incredible spices. That was one of many things that summer that made me feel beyond blessed.
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| spice rack in Atlanta 95% spice house via Mama C |
So with this new adventure abroad and more to come, I know the Spice House will play a special role. They ship to FPO addresses (Fleet post office) which we will have and I expect they will take up a small but essential space in our consumables shipment.
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