The foot is doing better (I can walk quite well now although it is still swollen) and that will be celebrated tonight by going to a Chinese restaurant and eating some spicy food. I have realized that it is probably not so much the Chinese food I am missing, but more like, the spicy food. There’s a guy at my current office who’s even more chilli pepper-obsessed than I am. He puts chilli peppers/sauce on everything: pizza, lasagne, sausages, and cakes! Yeah, once he even made a banana cake that he put in the kitchen, and asked everyone to help themselves. Little did they know that he’d put chili sauce (the hot kind!) in between the bananas and sugar coating. I thought it was hilarious but everybody else seemed a bit upset about it all.
Being a member of the Finnish chili association he has all kinds of mad chili product (most of them are ordered online), including a chili extract that we yesterday put in our teas. Quite a different experience I tell you, but fun to try. He’s also given me a kind of chili candy that looks like any pink candy, but that literally burns your mouth from inside. You can’t keep it for long. It was so hot even a Chinese girl (that loves spicy food) started sweating when she ate it in the office. Nothing for the faint-hearted I tell you.
We were talking about it yesterday, about what it is that makes spicy food so… addictive. He was more into the whole burn/pain experience while as I like that burn/warm feeling that comes with eating spicy food: It feels like your body heats up. I guess that makes eating spicy food more suitable for winter than summer. Still, I cannot stay away from it, it’s so good! And knowing now that there’s a “chili association” for spice freaks like me and the chili guy in my office here in Finalnd, makes the whole idea of one day moving back here more comforting.
ps. Still no computer. So still no photos :(
Glad to hear you're able to walk a bit more.
ReplyDeleteI like to put chili on quite a few things, but I have a low tolerance I guess, so I only put a little. If I put too much my nose starts to run and I have to have lots of tissues on-hand.
I never knew there were associations for people who like spicy food, but why not? There's an association for most anything right? Still, though, the fact that your friend is into the whole "pain" thing makes me wonder if he has other habits along that same line that are more ... perverse. Ha ha ha!
Have you been to Sichuan in China?
ReplyDeleteI haven't been there yet, but I was somewhere near that region back in 2000. Oh my, their regional food was unbelievably hot! My tongue went completely numb. The funny thing was I come from Malaysia and our food is also hot and spicy - yet I couldn't stand their kinda 'hot'
How ironic?
Sorry a bit off topic here, but you weren't kidding about the country being sauna crazed. Ran across this story you might get a kick out of:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/6001375/Finland-takes-gold-in-World-Sauna-Championships.html
Tales -it takes some getting used to. When I first came to China I actually didn't like spicy food at all! hah! Now I'm slightly obsessed!
ReplyDeletelondoncalling -Sichuan is on top of my list!! I really wanna go there sooner rather than later. I reckon it will be a pure, spice-paradise :) Yeah, thai and malay food can be really hot...but oh so good! Shame I can't get good versions of it here in Europe.
Hopfrog -I saw it.. funny right?! Yeah, u would never know the saunca craze over here. People pre party in their saunas. It's crazy but also kind of funny! A bunch of naked men and women drinking booze in a heated room?!?!? haha!
It does take some getting used to. That's true. I recently quit smoking and my tongue is starting to work better, so my spicy food tolerance went down a bit. O_o
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