Orange you glad it's Saturday?

Guess my hand was shaking a bit while snapping this photo. Or, maybe it's just the natural sparkling glow of candied orange peel. Yeah, that must be it.

Making candied peel is a perfect weekend task. It takes a bit of work, but the result is worth it. Start with organic oranges, or if those aren't available, give the oranges a good scrubbing to remove the shiny wax they're sometimes coated with.

While you bring a big pot of water to boil, slice off a little of the top and bottom of 2 to 3 oranges, and then slice off the peel to the flesh. Cut the peel into 1/4-inch matchsticks. Set up a large bowl of ice water.

Gently boil the peel for a couple of minutes and then remove them with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking. Do that two more times, blanching a total of three times.

Next, remove them to paper towels to dry, and scrape off most of the pith with a knife.

Pour 3 cups of sugar and 3 cups of water into a wide saucepan and bring just to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Stir in the dried orange sticks and cook until the sticks are tender, about 40 minutes. The mixture will reduce and thicken.

If you're so inclined, you can add a cinnamon stick, a star anise pod or two and/or whole cloves into the sugar water in the beginning to spice up the oranges.

Meanwhile, place another cup of sugar in a large bowl. Set a cooling rack in a sheet pan.

When the orange sticks are gooey-thick, remove with a slotted spoon and dump into the bowl of sugar and toss. Be very careful! The sugar syrup is extremely hot and you don't want to get any of it on you.

Space the sugared peels on the rack so they don't touch each other and let them dry for at least a day, maybe two.

Now, what to do with them? Eat them, of course.

Or dip one end in melted dark chocolate.

Or chopped them up and add to muffins or scones.

Or, wrap them in cellophane with a pretty bow and give to a friend.

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.