Spices For Dummies

Two nights in a row I found myself standing over my spice draw completely perplexed as to which spice to pick to season my dish. That's when it hit me that I have no clue in the world about spices. I mean I truly don't know one from the other. Unless I'm following a recipe that specifically tells me which one and how much, I almost never reach for a spice. With all the choices how on earth are you supposed to know which one goes with what?

Last night we were making sweet potato fries - one of my favorite things on Earth. One time when Jessica was visiting she made it and it looked so incredibly easy. She just cut the potatoes, drizzled some olive oil on them and them seasoned them with salt, pepper . . . and some mystery spice. What is rosemary, oregano, basil? I hadn't a clue, but I somehow picked rosemary and was later told that was indeed the correct choice. Wow, beginners luck.

Then tonight I was trying to grill some eggplant. I never attempted such a feat and I knew that without any seasoning the eggplant would be blah and less then stellar. But again I was faced with picking the right combination of things. Karlo gave me the advice of smelling different spices to see what goes with what. Is he kidding? That was no help at all. I decided to pick garlic powder and . . . . well, I already forgot. It may have been oregano, but I'm not really sure.

I just wonder how people get the experience to know what goes with what when they are not following a recipe. Was there some Spices 101 class that I missed in Home Ec as a kid? Why am I so dysfunctional when it comes to spices? As a joke I googled "Spices for Dummies" and low and behold, there's a real book with that title. Sounds like it may be a good investment for me.