A Grinding Experience with Cardamom

Today was my last day teaching English to Shakiba from Afghanistan (left) and Negeste from Eritrea (right), so I made them recipes from their countries. They were both quite pleased with their gifts, so I guess the recipes turned out to be authentic enough. The fruit kabob with lime, pineapple, and watermelon for Negeste wasn't too hard. And I thought the Afghan cookies were going to be fairly simple, too--only a handful of ingredients and steps. After all, I was using a cookbook of recipes from around the world for kids. Perhaps the problem is that the cookbook was made in the US and my grocery store in the UK didn't carry cardamom in any form except pods. So, following the instructions on the back of the bottle, I split open the pods (usually with some difficulty with a knife) and tried to gently crush the seeds (with the back of a spoon). No gentleness was needed. Those seeds did not want to crush. Perhaps it would've been an easier experience if I'd had better equipment. In the end I probably spent an hour and a half or more trying to crush a tablespoon's worth of cardamom seeds with a knife (the knife was Wes' idea and worked better than any of mine). So, my kitchen floor has a lot of semi-crushed cardamom seeds on it now. Needless to say (for those of you who know my culinary tendencies), I don't anticipate using cardamom again any time soon. Can anyone use half a bottle of pods?