He who controls the spice

Dune is an unbelievably good book. There are factions, and an empire that is mostly made up of jerks, and space wizards, the imperial guard wear red, and there are giant worm things living in the sand on desert planets. It's also about a teenage boy who after being hidden from the empire discovers that he is one of the aforementioned space wizards and proceeds to take back his legacy. It's basically Star Wars.

Spice is central to the plot of Dune and to my cooking. That's where I was going with this. It isn't about Star Wars. A comparison between these two science fiction epics is a tale for another day. They both even had prequels that were added years later. They both had genre defining classic PC games. But, I'm not here to talk about that. Not today, Galvatron! I'm here to talk about cooking with spices.

The key to Indian food is the spice, and the preparation, and probably some other things. I could discuss the preparation and go into those other things here, but that is not what I am doing. I want to talk about the spice, because I had that whole thing about Dune at the beginning, and I thought the title was a clever reference to Dune and the guy that sells me my spices. Look, I've pretty much ruined it now, but that's your fault. If you guys would just shut up for a second and let me finish, I could be doing this with something resembling the sort of grace and prowess you might be used to on other more gazellesque blogs.

This is my guy. His house has taken Arakis, and it looks like this, and it is here. He is not Indian, but that doesn't change what is in the packets. The packets are the same. They are from India, and are full of Indian spices, unless they are importing them before they package them, but that seems like a silly thing to be doing. I wouldn't do that. Nor should you, were you in such a situation. Just package the spices that they have there.

I visited recently and his range has expanded. He carries a variety of things now. He always did, but it is a wider variety of things. Paneer! That's a kind of cheese. I'm not meant to have dairy. I do though. It also has a great many other ingredients that you would use in an Indian feast. It's getting busy up in there. I'm so street. I'm not really. I'm not country either. I'm pretty soft. Very soft. I'm all soft toys and the great indoors. TV. Fridges. One TV, but multiple fridges. One would just be for sandwiches. And Indian leftovers. And the cheese I'm not meant to be eating.

The thing that is probably most appealing about this place as your Arakian supply depot is the price. It is not costly. Not costly at all. Cost effective blue-in-blue.

Also, I am pretty sure that the store has an 's' on its sign in the appropriate place. I think that is a Google Streetview related typo. That's where the picture is from. I stole it. I'm also pretty sure that the sign says 'indian grocery', and not 'indi grocery'. You can check for me when you go.

Am I helping him or am I helping you? Both. Everyone gets helped here. Everyone within a certain radius of his convenience store, which is opposite Victoria Park. 257 Broadway. There are other Indian grocers and carriers of Indian spices around, and I am aware of some really good ones in Canberra and Sydney's Northern Beaches, but this is where I go. This is my guy. He controls my spice.

Ezy Convenience Store
257 Broadway, Glebe
9518 4690