Grind the cumin and coriander finely with a mortar and pestle or in a spice grinder.

NPR: Recipes: 'Screen Doors and Sweet Tea'

In Italy, where I can slide my mortar and pestle across a counter, brace myself, and move it to the table, the only thing that ever fell on my foot was a full bottle of Barolo, and it was three in the morning, I had been working late, and the fig tart in the oven was about to burn.

NEWYORKER: A Fork of One��s Own