[honeychile]

You have a lot of really good ideas here, but I'd just like to add that, not knowing how you like your food (spicy or mild, for example), it's kinda hard to make many suggestions.

While I tend to agree with using sea salt & peppercorns & grinding them yourself, a novice cook could usually go to someplace like Bed, Bath, and Beyond or Sonoma-Williams, and pick up a small shaker that has about 6-8 different spices in it. Figure out what you like, and then get the larger versions. Some spices (like one of my favorite, saffron) are terribly expensive!