Chili Chatter

Update 11/16/2020: My opinions on the various pepper flake blends have changed some, but I'm not gonna go back over all of them except to say that Asian Reds is now my all-purpose go-to and Sweet Heat is really good when you grind it up.

 

I love hot peppers. To the right, there's a picture of some habanero bits that I dried in a toaster oven with sugar and salt. Habanero is about the limit of my heat tolerance. Despite their deliciousness, I usually only eat habanero peppers straight up when I want to shock myself out of a funk. 

Okay, here's where I start sounding like a shill because mostly I'm blathering on about some stuff I bought from this one place, Flatiron Pepper Company.

There were several that looked good, so I ordered a bunch: Four Pepper Blend, Sweet Heat, Hatch Valley Green, Asian Reds, and Smoke Show. The Four Pepper Blend (Arbol, Ghost, Habanero, Jalapeno) is probably the one I'd buy if I had to pick one. It's got a nice heat level and plenty of flavor. I could see using this in place of any of the others. That's not to say they're all the same, just that this one would do even when one of the others would be a better fit.

 

I was really pleased with Smoke Show (Chipotle, Smoked Ghost, Carolina Reaper) as well. As the name suggests, it's made with smoked peppers and the flavor definitely comes through. It's also the hottest of the ones I got. I think it's the hottest one they have except for "I Can't Feel My Face."

Yes, there's one called I Can't Feel My Face (Carolina Reaper, Ghost, Scorpion, Habanero). I keep looking at it and thinking I should order this and try it but, remember what I said about habaneros? That's the mildest pepper in this mix. The Scoville ranking is over 750k. I'm willing to admit that I have limits.

I was a little disappointed with Sweet Heat (Scotch Bonnet, Ancho, Red Bell). I mean, I knew it would be mild, but it's really too mild. The heat gets completely lost in anything I add it to. That might be okay, but the flavor does too. It has a nice flavor. Sweet, in case you hadn't guessed. It tastes good when I just chew it up by itself. Gnawing on a spoonful of pepper flakes isn't really what I'm looking for in a dining experience, though. Maybe someone with a more, whatchacallit, discerning palette would be better able to appreciate this.

Likewise Hatch Valley Green (Big Jim, Sandia, Jalapeno, Habanero), although in some ways I have the reverse complaint. It's got about the heat level I expected for Sweet Heat, but I'm not wowed by the flavor. I dunno. I'm still experimenting with all of these, so maybe I'll find some other uses that make it shine. Right now I'm mostly mixing it with one of the others, which is also what I'm doing with Sweet Heat.

 

I use Asian Reds (Gochugaru, Thai Chile, Ghost, Tien Tsin) for pretty much the stuff I imagined I'd use Sweet Heat for. It's not as sweet, but it goes with the same kind of things and has a respectable burn. I even put it on otherwise plain buttered toast for breakfast. Or, you know, whenever. And of course I put it on Chinese food. Restaurants around here have to worry about pasty mid-westerners (as opposed to pasty southerners like me) going all Karen because their Kung Pao has more bite than a poblano, so they tend to go extremely light on the spices. This stuff is the cure.

I guess that wasn't too shill-ish. I did have a few criticisms, after all. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! I've got this coupon link they gave me. You can use it to get $5 off an order, and then I get a coupon if you use it.

There's No Coke

I wanna see a commercial for Coca-Cola that starts with Gabriel Byrne frantically searching a ship for something. Everywhere he looks, there's just a bunch of Pepsi. Stephen Baldwin shows up.

Byrne: There's no Coke!

Baldwin: What?

Byrne: You heard me, you dumb fuck! I said there's no Coke! I've looked in every fucking fridge! I've looked in every fucking cabinet! THERE'S NO -- FUCKING -- COKE!

Baldwin: I'm outta here.

Cut to Kevin Spacey, daytime, walking down the street. Pete Postlethwaite shows up to offer him a ride and and an ice cold Coca-Cola. Spacey smiles as he pops the can open and takes a drink. He holds it up to the camera like he's proposing a toast.

Cut with the sound of a blaring boat horn to the harbor, where a charred corpse floats, surrounded by mangled Pepsi cans, which somehow also float. Coca-Cola logo appears.

Voiceover: If they don't have Coke, get the fuck out.

... but that might not be the image they're going for.

#RPGaDay 13: Most Memorable Character Death

Not necessarily my character, right? There are so many memorable deaths. I think I'll go with a fairly recent one. Tom was GM'ing Tunnels & Trolls at InConTroll, and we had been really taking a beating getting through his damn swamp. When we ran into a really ill-tempered (or at least hungry) giant frog that gulped down one of the party in the first round, the decision to flee wasn't hard. I think the wretched beast may have taken down another delver while we were running (or swimming - Tom is a bastard), but I'm not sure. There were an awful lot of casualties that day. Anyway, we're staying ahead of it, even gaining a little ground, when Trevor the Wolf Troll (no, I don't know what that is either) turns around and announces that he's going to try to communicate with the frog.

Yeah, well. At least the rest of us got away.

Two-Hearted Ale

Suppose this is what the Doctor drinks?

Dog Meat?

Dogs First Tamed in China -- To Be Food?
John Roach for National Geographic News, September 4, 2009
Wolves were domesticated no more than 16,300 years ago in southern China, a new genetic analysis suggests—and it's possible the canines were tamed to be livestock, not pets, the study author speculates...

Click here for the whole article.

Interesting article, but that one bit of speculation doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Cows and goats, for example, take in things we can't eat and turn them into something we can. Dogs, on the other hand, eat meat. It's kind of inefficient to breed something specifically as a food supply when you're going to have to share your own meals with it. Sure, people did and do eat dogs, but it's quite a leap from there to say that this was the primary reason for domesticating them.

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St. Patrick's Day

The bus ride to Ohio City, around 1pm:

The Old Angle, one of our favorite pubs, where we went directly after a corned beef-heavy lunch at the Market Cafe.
The Bier Markt, also in Ohio City. Strangely, people weren't flocking to the German pub for St. Patrick's day:


At South Side, one of many bars in Tremont we went to after wandering across the bridge. I don't know who this man is. I think he's an acquaintance of Tom's. Or just some guy who wanted his picture taken:

Awww. Aren't we cute?

List of Stops:

• The West Side Market Cafe - a corned beef bonanza with Warsteiner
  
• The Old Angle Tavern - shots of Jameson with Matt
  
• McNulty's Bier Markt - finished the tub-thumping list here (whiskey drink, vodka drink, lager drink, cider drink)
  
• Fat Cats - black & tans and a delicious fried shrimp snack
  
• The South Side - drinks with a side of Lucky Charms
  
• The Polish Legion of American Veterans - Pulaske Post - Tom was especially pleased to get in here, because he and Tony had been ringing their bell unsuccessfully on many a barhop over the years. It is otherwise a rather dreary place.
  
• Prosperity Social Club (formerly Dempsey's Oasis)
  
• Lincoln Park Pub - Irish egg rolls (me) and shepherd's pie (Tom). Sang along with Marcy Playground and possibly others
  
• The Lava Lounge
  

Superwonderfulriffic Dark Chocolate

I found this chocolate at the grocery store that's like 65% cacao,
with cacao nibs mixed in on top of that, and it's the best thing ever.
It's like eating God. I'm going to go back and buy it all.