For a song...

Warning! This is not a food post. Proceed with caution...

Meet Skyclo. Skyclo is the ultimate, low maintenance pet.

More expensive than a chia pet, but so much more appealing.

We picked up Skyclo for a song (the Beatles complete anthology, for price reference.)

Kidding, but still, Skyclo wasn't cheap.

I was lingering a bit too long over the little guy and the boutique shop girl came over to ask if I was interested in buying him.

Me: "How much?"

Her: "$5."

Me: "Five bucks??!!"

Her: "Uh, no. $500.00"

Me: "Holy @#$%!"

And then I walk away, dazed and confused. I look around the adorable little dog shop on Main Street in Park City, thinking I should trade in my chef's knife for a hunk of clay.

A couple minutes later, shop girl says, "My boss really wants to move these things, so I can offer you a deal on the little Westie." Really, I say, looking around at approximately 30 other dog breeds sitting on shelves.

I spot the hairless dog. Funny, it's the only ceramic sculpture with hair. A little tuft protruding from his little skull.

"How does $300.00 sound?" she twerps. Uh, no, I say, although I am beginning to realize that these are really works of art.

"OK! $200.00. That's as low as I can go," she says. SOLD! I say. And that's how we acquired our third dog. We named him Skyclo, after our other two, um, more vocal Westies: Sklyar and Chloe.

A couple days later, I wandered back to the pet boutique, only to discover that it had closed. I forgot to get information about the artist, and after an exhaustive internet search (5 minutes), I can't seem to find anything about this artist, so I can't point you in the right direction in case you were interested in having one of your own.

$200.00 isn't cheap, I know, and my friends have laughed at me for spending that much, but it is still cheaper than having a real dog. I know because I still have two. Now, if I can just get them all three to sit together for a family portrait.

Peppercorn Love...

Seriously, how many kinds of pepper does one cook need?

Black, sure. White? OK.

But when you start veering off into what kind of black pepper (Malabar, Lampong, Tellicherry, etc.) it gets kind of nuts.

But that's not all I have in my pantry.

There's Szechuan (from China), Aleppo (from Turkey), and pink peppercorns (which aren't peppercorns at all, but have a peppery flavor and look like peppercorns, only shockingly pink). I have two kinds of white pepper, the darker Muntok and the whiter (more expensive) Sarawak.

Green peppercorns live in two places in my household: swimming in brine (in the fridge) and dehydrated, snuggled up next to my black, white and pink peppercorns. If nothing else, I run an equal opportunity pantry. No discrimination here.

In all, I have ten different peppercorns (counting the pink ones, even though we've already established that they aren't true peppercorns.) I don't think we should go into how many pepper grinders I have.

Is there really a taste difference between the Indonesian Lampong and the Indian Tellicherry peppercorns? Yes, but it's not earth-shatteringly-dramatic. The only way to discern the difference is to taste them, and that gets kind of hot after a while, but you can pick up different flavor notes. The Lampong is earthy. The Tellicherry has fruity notes. Both leave a nice after burn.

Pepper, right after salt, of course, is the most important seasoning ingredient in a cook's arsenal. I'm not saying you need to have ten different peppercorns, but you should have peppercorns as opposed to pre-ground pepper, and grind them fresh every time to get the real power of this heady spice.

My go-to source for peppercorns is Penzeys Spice Company. Another great source is Flavorbank, based out of Tucson, Arizona. It's where I picked up the earthy Lampong pepper.

Everyone needs a little spice in their life. I, apparently, need lots.