What in the Fennel is that?

So, this week I've decided I wanted to try some some complex cooking. I browsed a foreign foods cookbook for ideas, but soon decided that I had no interest in going to speciality markets to find some of the off the wall ingredients that the recipes called for and I couldn't pronounce. I tossed the book, and found another old cookbook in the bottom of the drawer. I found some unusual recipes with ingredients I wasn't familiar with, but I had at least heard of before.

I made an oyster and spinach salad, which sounds awful, but was quite good. Tonight, I have the double whammy. TWO ingredients I've never dealt with before. Lamb chops and fennel.

I found the lamb chops, but didn't find any fennel in the grocery store. It didn't help that I didn't know exactly what I was looking for, but still, I searched the produce department closely and found nothing I didn't recognize.

I decided to go to a slightly fancier store (Fred Meyer), which carries a bit more variety. After searching, I finally gave up & asked the produce guy for fennel. He said he was out of Anise, but should have some tomorrow. Not wanting to appear stupid, I just thanked him and went on my way. Anise? What? I thought I was looking for fennel?

I went home and searched the computer for answers. What fennel the same as anise? Was it like the scallions-and-green-onions-basically-mean-the-same-thing thing? I found several conflicting viewpoints. Some saying that it was the same, other arguing it was totally different. I decided that I would settle for whatever I could find, regardless of who wanted to call it whatever!

So today I went to the 3rd grocery store. This one's a bit snootier and overpriced, so I figured I'd give it a try. I looked through everything until I came across something I didn't recognize. Could this be it? Was this bulb-celery-with-green-feathers-on-it looking thing what I was after? Naturally, there was no tag to indicate what this stuff was. So I decided to pretend that I knew what I was buying and walked up to the register, and began to say a silent prayer hoping that the checkout lady knew what it was. I figured this could be an embarrassing moment if the checkout lady didn't know, I guessed wrong, and the next person in line KNEW what it was and publicly declared me an idiot over the store's intercom.

I picked my check out person based on age. I figured if I picked an older lady, perhaps she would be more likely to know what it was. When I brought it to the counter she started looking it up in a book. Before I could get too nervous, "anise" popped up on the machine. I breathed a sigh of relief and came home with my prize.

Is it really anise or fennel? I don't know. Really, I don't care that much. I do know that I'm going to cook with it tonight, even if at this point I haven't the slightest clue as to what I'm doing! Yeah for experiments!