Where can home girl buy a salt lick?

I read around the blogosphere (can't remember where, sorry)[EDIT: I read this on the fabulous Sophia's blog a few weeks ago] that our taste buds regenerate every seven years. Because of this, I'm guessing foods take on a slightly different taste every now and then. Maybe this explains that time I was shocked to discover--in my early 20s--that the once delicious Cookie Crisp cereal now tastes like stale cardboard.

Just a few years ago, I was known as "The Cookie Monster." I am the girl who has never turned down chocolate... except that one time. (But in all fairness, when my junior high stalker pulled that chocolate covered pretzel out of his pocket and it was shrouded in blue jean lint, I didn't technically turn it down. I just threw it on the floor in the school stairwell when he was out of sight. Any sane teenybopper would have done the same thing.) I would make trips to the bakery and leave drooling over my dozen fudge thumbprint cookies with chocolate sprinkles. I could not get enough sweets.

I kept a bag of dark chocolate in my office to keep my sugar cravings at bay. On my worst days, I would march across the street and order a chocolate chip walnut cookie from the French cafe. $2 for a cookie? Don't mind if I do.

Things started changing about a year ago when I caught myself fantasizing about sinking my teeth into a giant kosher dill pickle instead of a decadent piece of fudge. Instead of snacking on Chips Ahoy or Oreos, I would sit in front of the TV with a jar of green olives. Or kalamata olives. Or salt and vinegar chips. Do we notice a pattern here? Salt. Salt. Salt. Pizza with anchovies? Yes, I went there.

Sushi drenched in soy sauce is now one of my ultimate food fantasies. I crave it every day. It is not a cheap addiction. I just returned from a sushi lunch date with Boyfriend. $40 worth of sushi is not a good investment when my credit card bills are at an all-time high. (Buying furniture? So not cheap.)

Yesterday, while on our weekly grocery shopping spree, I hid a tin of sardines in our shopping cart. While unloading the groceries back home, I admitted to the secret salty fish purchase.

"Your salt addiction is really out of control, huh?" Boyfriend asked. "Maybe you have some kind of sodium deficiency?"

Yeah, I don't see how that can be true. I think at this point my organs are nicely preserved in a generous coating of salt. Yum.