Awesome kitchen, Stinky! I'm going to follow your lead and start looking for copper pots at tag sales, estate sales and flea markets.

I win the nerd points! Asafoetida is an Indian (originally Persian, I think) spice that's really the dried, ground resin from a plant. I have some in my kitchen, too. A pinch of it goes into my Indian lemon-lentil rice I make. It's a digestive, at least according to my former manager, a wonderful Indian cook who told me I needed to have asatoetida on hand to properly prepare that rice recipe. I'm a spice aficionada, too.