spicy food

[jfb]

Today was the first time I had too-spicy food since the time I underestimated wasabi.

A lot of Thai restaurants will offer you a choice of spiciness, say from 0 to 4, and I usually go with the 3--I can handle the 4, but I don't really enjoy it more. Today at a place I'd never been to before I was told their spiciness scale ranges from 1 to 10. Okay, I thought, if their ten is somewhere else's four, multiply by 3/4, round down for safety, and I ordered a 7.

Later, after some coughing, some headshaking, and a little bit of weeping, I concluded that in fact, their four is everybody else's four. Their scale just goes a lot higher.

Comments

[michaelpop.livejournal.com]

yowza. that's a one spicy a...vegetarian pad thai?

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Tom Kha soup. Mmm.

[dusty-chenille.livejournal.com]

Once I decided I would be on the "wall of flame" at a local Thai place. If a person ate the entirity of their meal ordered at the highest rating (theirs was a 5) they got a bronze plaque on the wall. I managed to do it, as I am a fan of the spicy. But it took a long time and no small amount of cussing and Singha swilling. I am proud to say my plaque still hangs there, but nowadays I opt for about a 3.

someone has to say it...

[greyaenigma.livejournal.com]

Ours goes to eleven!

Re: someone has to say it...

[jfb.livejournal.com]

I left that space open just for you.

[artname.livejournal.com]

Where? And was it GOOD?

Re:

[sebab.livejournal.com]

ditto! (for my next trip up there)

Re:

[jfb.livejournal.com]

It was the Blue Mango, on Stevens Creek Boulevard near 280 in San Jose. It was pretty good--especially the less spicy entree--and has a big vegetarian menu, which I plan to explore more. (There's an open mike down the street I plan to attend for a while.)

If I'm actually dispensing information instead of just telling a story, I should confess that after the soup cooled off a little it seemed much less lethal. 7 might be safer than it seemed.

Re:

[sebab.livejournal.com]

thanks!