Spice Racks Blog

One of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, Haiti in recent years has struggled with problems ranging from near-constant political upheaval, health crises, severe environmental degradation and an annual barrage of hurricanes, which killed an estimated 800 people and caused vast damage in 2008.

On Jan. 12, 2010, a massive earthquake struck Haiti, reducing much of its capital to rubble. It was the worst earthquake in the region in more than 200 years. Since then, there have been aftershocks, causing even more devastation.

It’s far too easy to feel powerless to help in the face of such heartbreaking news. But you can help!

To give to the Red Cross, phone users can text the word “HAITI” to 90999 to donate $10, and when prompted, hit “YES” to confirm the donation.

The donation is added to the cell user’s bill, and receipts are available.

Other text-message codes for donations include:

• Text the word “HAITI” to 20222 to donate $10 to the Clinton Foundation Haiti Relief Fund.

• Text “HAITI” to 25383 to donate $5 to the International Rescue Committee.

• Text “HAITI” to 85944 to donate $10 to the International Medical Corps.

Also, some of my favorite companies have started donation campaigns for relief work in Haiti. Through January 28, StacksAndStacks.com will be donating $10 on every order over $100 dollars to the American Red Cross. You can make this a philanthropic double whammy – buy some organizing supplies for a local charity in your neighborhood, and if you spend over $100 dollars, you’ll be helping Haiti as well! It’s a new version of “Think Globally, Act Locally” – it’s “Act Locally, Act Globally”!

Since I’ve got such a great response to my last post, in which I discussed the prevalence of spice in the movie Dune, I’ve decided to talk about another important pop culture phenomena related to spice. I refer to, of course, The Spice Girls.

Wikipedia tells us that The Spice Girls were a British pop girl group formed in 1994. They consisted of Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice), Melanie Brown (Scary Spice), Emma Bunton (Baby Spice), Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice), and Geri Halliwell (Ginger Spice). According to the BBC and The Times, they are the most successful girl group of all time.

They were signed to Virgin Records and released their debut single, “Wannabe”, in 1996. The song hit number one in 31 countries and helped establish the group as a “global phenomenon”. Credited for being the pioneers that paved the way for the commercial breakthrough of teen pop in the 1990s. Their first album, Spice, sold more than 23 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female group in music history. They have sold 60 million records worldwide with only four albums and twelve singles, making them the most successful British band since the Beatles, and the best selling girl group of all time.

Today, the Spice Girls are Spice Women, and unfortunately do not perform together anymore. Luckily, you can always rent the movie “Spice World” to relive their particular brand of magic. Don’t worry, I’ll be reviewing “Spice World” in the future! I’m just waiting for the Netflix to arrive.

I don’t know why some savvy marketer never made a blend of spices named after the Spice Girls. Let’s try to do it ourselves. Starting with Posh Spice. Hmmm…I think Posh Spice would be a blend of saffron, vanilla, and cardamom – those are the world’s most expensive spices, you know!

You know what drives me crazy? Measuring spices into a spoon by shaking the spice can over the spoon. Not only can it be seemingly time consuming (shake shake shake..look at spoon…shakeshakeshake..look at spoon), but more often then not my impatience wins out and I end up opening the wide end of the bottle, shaking it – and dumping nutmeg all over the counter. Blerg!

That’s why I love these measuring spoons. These measuring spoons are dual sided – with the traditional round side for liquid measurements, and a more rectangular side for dry ingredients. This rectangular side is a blessed feature – because it’s more streamlined, it fits inside most spice jars! Plus, these spoons have flat bottoms, so they can rest on your countertop.

Okay – and here’s the cool thing about them. If you’re one of those super cool people who have a magnetic knife rack (I’m just too clumsy and flailing for such things) these measuring spoons are magnetic – so you can just stick them up there. Way cool. It’s like something Alton Brown would have in his kitchen.

Even if you don’t have a magnetic knife rack, these spoons would still stick to a metal spice rack. It can be your centralized spice system!