Archive | Other Nonsense RSS feed for this section

Hiatus

26 Jan

Alright, so I’ve been a massive soft cock this week.

After some ‘incidents’ with extremely hot sauces, about 10 days ago, I have been suffering severe stomach pain. Due to this, I’ve been on a self imposed chilli ban, for a week.

My theory is that due to constant extreme exposure to capsaicin (the hot stuff in chilli) I gave myself IBS. Basically I would feel fine but if I ate anything chilli, high fibre or acidic, I would get immediate and lasting stomach pain.

However, it’s time to stop being a fucking sook. There is too much hot shit to get through, to be sitting round feeling sorry for myself.

On a side note, this hiatus gave me the chance to focus on some other culinary pursuits. I made my first batch of biltong. If you don’t know what this is, then you are not my friend. The first batch was too salty. I used fine grained salt in the cure, but will use rock next time. Look out for some Ghost Chilli biltong in the future!

20130126-205821.jpg

Have I mentioned I’m now going by the name ‘The Biltong King’???

Tags: , , , , ,

A Progress Report

13 Jan
Nice hot cup of tea. Lovely

Nice hot cup of tea. Lovely

I thought I’d make a post today about my progress towards my goal of becoming a chilli-master.

When I first started writing about eating hot food, it was with the intention of increasing my heat tolerance. I have since discovered a whole world andof chilli!

My tolerance for chilli increased rapidly initially, and I have now got to the stage where pretty hot food, doesn’t worry my mouth. However, this week I have hit what I call the chilli wall. I was testing a super hot sauce and afterwards I experienced intense gut ache. This lasted for a couple of hours. I rested from chilli that night. I got back on it the next day, but experienced the same pain, with sauces I would normally laugh at. So yesterday I had a very easy chill day (only seriously hot meal was 2 habanero’s in my omelet). Now I feel ready to keep pushing the limits!

Initially I was concerned about ring sting. I have come to believe that tolerance to ring sting increases just as rapidly as the mouth tolerance. We could test this theory by forming a human caterpillar and rating the arse-to-mouth heat experience.

Once you start looking, there is a whole world of chilli products out there. For instance: today I consumed a chilli tea from T2. It was  a delicious fruity tea that had a lovely hint of heat on the lips and throat. I can highly recommend this.

What I have really noticed with chilli is that it brings people together. Everyone is familiar with it, and as such can relate with one another’s experiences. I love seeing how interested (and bewildered) people are to hear about my endeavors. Equally I love hearing about their chilli experiences. I have been given gifts of sauces, fresh chilli and dried chilli, from many people I know, and have given chilli to others around me. I love seeing peoples willingness to try something hot. I think it says a lot about a person if they are willing to try something new, even though they know it will cause them pain.

I have a huge stockpile of chilli’s and sauce to get stuck into. So stay tuned for more posts about this wonderful fruit!

P.S. This post is way too prim and proper, so here is a link to the definition of chiligasm:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chiligasm

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Tassie Christmas: The Other Shit

7 Jan

Tassie really is the best place in the world. If you disagree I’ll spike your water with Bhut Jolokia.

I had such a ball down there at Christmas doing stuff and things. I thought the best way to sum up all the non-chilli related experiences would be to simply caption some photos. Enjoy!

IMG_2173

Good times were had at the Great Lakes Hotel. Got pretty loose, ate roo rissoles and wasted a million bucks on fucking Irish bingo.

The highlight of any Tassie trip are these bastards! I got this one for free at Bronte Park General Store because it was 2 days old - score!!!!

The highlight of any Tassie trip are these bastards! I got this one for free at Bronte Park General Store because it was 2 days old – score!!!!

IMG_2221

Family on Christmas day doing what they do best – drink and bullshit. Backgournd L to R: Cow (Dad), Sammy, Norton, Pepsi, Dave. Foreground L to R: Mum, Fiona.

Mad Dog snr and Mad Dog jnr, at the Great Lakes Hotel, discussing how to pick up the local birds.

Mad Dog Sr and Mad Dog Jr, at the Great Lakes Hotel, discussing how to pick up the local birds.

The dogs: Maxie, Pruey and Charlie. This was taken at the Hobart farmers market. This market is awesome!

The dogs: Maxie, Pruey and Charlie. This was taken at the Hobart farmers market. This market is awesome!

IMG_2212

Here I am visiting The Beer Gardens, where the mythical Beer Tree was in bloom! Thanks Johnny M for giving us the guided tour.

The trouts don't stand a chance with this sexy beast on their case. Even Jessie is frothin'

The trouts don’t stand a chance with this sexy beast on their case. Even Jessie is frothin’

Drank some awesome stuff with this old bastard! This pic was taken at the end of the trip once we were beered out!

Drank some awesome stuff with this old bastard! This pic was taken at the end of the trip once we were beered out!

This needs no caption. Even though this is a caption.

Quite nice conditions on Great Lake. That’s Mad Dog out on the point.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tassie Christmas: The Taste

6 Jan

I hadn’t been to The Taste for a few years due to previous experiences of shit food and no seats. I had heard that these issues had been fixed so I linked up with Pilby, Daf and Mad Dog for a Taste power session.

We had an absolute ball trying different beer and getting maggot. I also ate the hottest thing I’ve had so far!

I went to The Taste for a second time with Pruey and the family, for a more civilised experience.

Both attendances were bloody fantastic! I will be there again next year for sure!

IMG_2310

The crew. Note the size of the cup tower in Pilby’s hand. I’m being pretty sensible at this stage. As a side note the Moo Brews were the highlight beer and reasonable at $7.5 a schooner.

IMG_2346

Here I am with my first hot dish. It was some sort of thai beef salad from the legends at Vanidols. I had heard their duck curry was a bum stinger so I went to them for that. Allas they weren’t serving it at The Taste so I requested their hottest dish, with specific instructions for it not to be the watered down rubbish for bogans, I wanted it hot like they have it! It was bloody tasty and bloody hot.

IMG_2345

After the beef salad I took my empty plate back to Vanidols as a trophy to my chilli powers. I told them it wasn’t hot enough and I wanted the hottest thing they had ever made (this seemed like a sick idea, probably as a result of the beers consumed in the foreground). They made me a small beef curry, the size of my hand, and loaded that bad boy with chilli flakes. It was hot. hottest thing I had ever eaten at that stage. It sent me sideways, as Prue can attest, after my behaviour when she picked me up 🙂 I blame it on the chilli and not the alcohol.

IMG_2340

Here’s me being being a good boy with Pruey on my second visit. I ate some chilli mussels but they weren’t very hot. I had some Ethiopian curry but that wasn’t hot either. Basically nothing hot this night except Prue 😉

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tassie Christmas: The Chilli

3 Jan

I’m from Tasmania (probably why I’m such an idiot). So for Christmas I thought it best to go and visit the family and get into the Christmas cheer. Oh, and also go hard on the chilli!!!

Tassie isn’t the greatest place to have a chilli related experience. Due to the cool climate, chilli’s aren’t a great crop in Tassie. Despite this I managed to acquire some intense sauces and meals.

I thought the best way to summarise my Tassie experience would be photos with captions. I’ll split the 10 day trip into 3 posts.

I’ll give these sauces a full review in the near future.

Enjoy…….dickheads

IMG_0530

The Chilli Factory – Devil’s Delirium: I got this sauce from Mundy & Sons butchers in Hobart. Fuck it’s hot. I thought this was a fitting purchase being in the land of the devil. Mad Dog looks pretty pleased with himself, note that this photo was taken before he ate the sauce!

IMG_2343

I had a kick-arse brekky at Pump House and requested some Tabasco, they brought me this – much better than Tabasco! Still not very hot but great on their baked eggs with chorizo.

IMG_2278

Johnny M cooked Mad Dog and I a beautiful feast up at the lakes. We tried our best to ruin it with the Boomslang sauce (pictured on the table). Despite the head exploding and arse bursting heat of the sauce, the meal was epic!

IMG_2249

I was stoked to find a chilli chocolate within a mix from Norman and Dan! Unfortunately this is a gimmick. It had a nice fruity flavour, but no discernable heat.

IMG_2218

My uncle Doozie had this bad boy on offer for Christmas day. She hot! A very delicious sauce from an Aussie manufacturer.

IMG_2205

Christmas eve dinner at Pruey’s. Note the nearly empty jar of Devil’s Delirium next to my thumbs up. We went super hard on that sauce.

IMG_0534

This is why the Devil’s Delirium was nearly empty in the previous photo. Fresh baked bread at Mad Dog’s shack, fucking coated in molten lava. This fucked us hard. Good times, good times.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Image

First World Chili Problems

20 Dec

20121220-141950.jpg

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Restaurant Reviews and Food Bloggers Rant

19 Dec

I love reading food blogs. I love it that a blog is literally whatever the blogger wants it to be. Whether that is: honest opinion; paid opinion; groveling sucking up; or pure fence sitting – I don’t give a shit, it’s your blog, do what you like.

That being said, I’m sick of the trend of food blogs being nancy fancy accounts of boring meals, written by boring idiots with expensive cameras. I’m sick of their reviews reading like the restaurants own mission statement. I’m especially sick of the general lack of opinion and the political correctness of these blogs. I suspect the majority of food bloggers are chasing freebies, and paid comments, so hold opinion back as to not appear too offensive.

Fuck. That. Shit.

I’m going to be ruthless. But equally I will be giving praise where it is deserved.

Stayed tuned for my first restaurant review tomorrow….

Tags: , , , , , ,