Surviva, where do you live?

Curries: There are really good blends, pastes and powders. The reason I asked where you live, is because if you are in almost any sizable urban area in North America or Europe, you should be able to find a good Indian grocer and a good Thai or Vietnamese grocer. This is where you'll find the goods. I am lucky to have dozens and dozens of ethnic grocers where I live, as well as a dedicated spice shop that has several locations. But you should be able to find some stuff locally, if not, go online.

The mint leaves... Well, here's the thing, you can add citrus (acid) to dairy. Classic french sauces are almost always finished with cream for body and lemon for brightness. Just stir as you're adding it, this way you won't have high concentrations of acid coming into contact with dairy, which can cause the sauce's pH, in that spot, to increase enough to break. But, even if this weren't the case, marinating the leaves and then adding them to the sauce is the same as just adding the acid. Hell, it may be worse, since it is now harder to disperse. However, I offer a caveat-- I am not knowledgeable about all styles of cuisine, and where something and it's results may be empirically wrong according to French cuisine, it may be the way it's done and the results desirable in another cuisine.

And yeah, sorry, I was on my phone when I responded, so I didn't see your previous post. The menu is.. well.. all over the place! Ha. I think it's cool that you're getting your creative juices flowing, but Kielbasa and (what seems to be) Moroccan tagine are odd menu mates. Especially since both dishes seem fairly heavy. Menu planning takes a lot of practice, trial and error. If you've got a future menu in the works and you'd like some input, def pm me. I love menu planning-- I get giddy when I do it.

Oh, and cheese is not an appetizer. You typically want to move from more delicate flavors for more pungent flavors as your menu progresses. This isn't a hard fast rule, but it is the reason that cheese is traditionally a final course, served in lieu of desert. Ok, off my cheese-as-an-app pet peeve soap box.