blackened tuna

In which I totally display my paleo cred. This was it. No side, no bread, no salad or soup, no cheese plate, no smart hors d oeuvres, no tapas, no fruit, no desert no nuth'n.

Boy, is this ever peppery. Tellicherry peppercorns smashed in that stone smusher.

One of my elderly relatives hated coarsely ground pepper. He said the larger particles went under his dentures and irritated. Then he shared that irritation every time freshly ground pepper was the only option. What a drag that must be. But I find it impossible to be sympathetic because the whole time he complained my brain was automatically thinking, "Well you had just taken better care of your teefs then."

Did you know in days of yore, when the spice trade was instrumental in developing the global economy, pepper was so dear it was kept locked up in a cabinet? It was counted out by the peppercorn to a pepper master, probably a regular servant assigned to double duty, who wore a silver pepper holder around his neck and went around to each guest offering pepper much as waiters do today, then counted the peppercorns back to the cabinet. I saw this on TV so that proves it's true.

Those waiters always come around with a giant mill to deliver it directly to your plate, I suppose to avoid bodily hovering too near to your salad. But it hardly delivers any pepper at all with each crank of the mill. Isn't that stupid? I like lots of pepper on my salad but I feel guilty making the guy stand there cranking away and I can't even see any black dots on my salad so I go, "That's fine" Even though it's not fine. As soon as he leaves I reach for the pepper shaker and pick up where he left off with pre-ground pepper. At home I use a Middle-Eastern coffee grinder. 1/4 crank nearly coats the plate. <--- possible exaggeration.

Iced tea is Celestial Seasonings, a Boulder company that prides itself on its earth-friendiness. It has always been a thing with them since forever. They brag about their innovation of foregoing string on their teabags. Once the company owner remarked how much they saved the environment quantitatively by not attaching string to their bags. The irony is they put so few tea bags in each box so you have to buy a million boxes just to match what Lipton's puts in one box. It's good stuff though. I like to combine them.