the importance of labels

I need to label my spices better. A few weeks ago I made a ginger cake that called for cardamom and I used cumin instead. The women at the health food store laughed at me when I told them, but the cake was fine. Today, a similar dilemma. Flipping through Anna Olson's book, Sugar, I find a cardamom sugar cookie recipe. Rifling through my sorry excuse for a spice rack I find two baggies. One is cumin, one is cardamom. I think. Before my husband goes out to get groceries I sneak the following on to the list: "check if cardamom is brown or grey". He does. It's grey. The cookies turn out very well. Luckily we are moving to an apartment with limited kitchen space. The joys of city living. To celebrate that joy, I am going to treat myself to new spice containers. A friend of mine has is figured out. $20 at Canadian Tire gets you a 6-can magnetic canister set. Mounts to the wall, easy to fill, sleek/unique design. I might even get two.