I needed cinnamon. My favorite spice store, The Spice Corner, had closed. I didn’t feel like running up to Reading Terminal and pre packaged spices from the grocery store were out of the question. That left Melange, a tea and spice store at 11th and Pine Streets in Philadelphia. Melange has been open for a couple of years but I had never shopped there before I stepped in that November afternoon. When I asked if they carried cinnamon, proprietor Boris Ginsburgs steered me to a shelf that held Saigon cinnamon, Sri Lankan cinnamon and Indonesian cinnamon.
“Could you explain the difference between the three of them?”
Boris launched into an explanation that was concise, lucid, and which branded him as a tea and spice nerd. Maven would be a better description. I ended up buying small onamounts of all three varieties intending to try them in different dishes. And I will go back to Melange when I need more spices because they have such a big, reasonably priced assortment.
Boris Ginsburgs knows his tea and spices. Just read through the Melange web site if you want a tea and spice education. Better yet, go to Melange and buy some new spices to try.
In other news, I raised a little money for the Fleisher Art Memorial by running a make and take bracelet table at their annual Holiday Craft Fair. I also contributed a piece to Fleisher’s semi-annual fundraiser, Dear Fleisher, 4 x 6 inches of Art.
More than 300 artists contributed work to the fundraiser. All the work is priced at $50.00 and the artists remain anonymous until the work is sold. The polymer piece I donated went home with a buyer.
Ornamento 
Now I have corner shop envy 😉