For The Love of Pepper

My Beloved adores pepper. While others may love salt and grow lyrical in their descriptions of Maldon, Fleur de Sel, etc., he gets really enthusiastic about pepper. He puts it on everything from cantaloupe to big, rare steaks - and when I say "puts it on," I really mean "loads it on!"

His Boston daughter introduced him to a battery-driven pepper mill that not only grinds the pepper but also lights the plate with a flashlight cleverly worked into the bottom of the mill so he can be sure he has 'way too much on his food; he keeps wearing out the batteries. This is a serious pepper hound.

So, when I saw this little palm-sized, spring loaded pepper mill in the SF MOMA museum store last weekend when we were there to see the Georgia O'Keefe/Ansel Adams show, I just had to buy it and hide it in my purse, awaiting the first restaurant meal where there was only a (miserable) pepper shaker on the table. I didn't have long to wait - why is it that restaurants, even fine dining restaurants, only offer shakers, rarely grinders? Anyway, when I saw My Beloved unscrewing the cap of the shaker, it was time to reveal my surprise!

You should have seen the look on his face! Am I a good wife, or what?