Fire Girl

Fire Girl

Ok, so apparently my sister is not really human at all but rather a fire-breathing dragon (which is completely news to me, a little bit scary, and also kind of cool). Her obsession with spicy foods (Thai in particular) is relentless. I was aware of this to some degree, but I didn't realize it went to such extremes. She must have completely decimated her tastebuds or something, because I don't know of anyone that can eat a raw habañero pepper and not die.

Here are some comments of hers from a recent conversation we had via email:

"If you haven't yet, you might want to try cooking with habañero chiles... they have a fabulous tropical fruit flavor and would be great in a pineapple stir fry. Be careful though, it you have sensitive skin, they cause burns. I ate a whole one raw just to see if I could do it. Painful but yummy."

"Went to Thai restaurant yesterday and ordered Pad Kee Mao (drunken noodles). Got 4 stars (the max spicyness) and it still was wimpy so asked for extra chili paste and added entire container. What does a white girl have to do to get some spicy food in an ethnic restaurant? I think I'm being discriminated against."

Don't get me wrong. I love spicy food. I spent a year in Mexico, the home of the habañero! But my goal is generally not to make myself sweat when I eat. I usually throw in some serrano chilis, some chili flakes, maybe some cayenne pepper into everything I cook, but that's pretty much where it ends. I don't like my food to be so so spicy that it overwhelms the other flavors in the dish.

But whatever, to each his (or her) own. If you like Hot n' Spicy, my sister recommends www.firegirl.com -- Everything Hot n' Spicy, and you can have it all shipped right to your home. Apparently they have these "Habañero stuffed olives from Hell" which my sister thinks are "fabulous." Personally, I think I'm gonna try to stay as far away from Hell (whether it be culinary hell or spiritual hell) as I can.

Comments welcome.