I've met my match

For those of you who don't know me, I have three personal creeds regarding food:

1. Maintain a healthy dietary lifestyle allowing for occasional indulgences.

2. There is no such thing as too much garlic (this is subjective I guess).

3. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO SPICY!!!! In fact, if it isn't making me physically sweat, it isn't spicy enough.

As the title of this post would indicate, I have now met my match. The third rule may need to be amended. My coworker J decided to try a recipe for ultra-spicy chicken wings that she found in a school fund raiser-type cookbook, fully expecting it to be tame because 'spicy' recipes out of school fund raiser cookbooks typically are. She surprised herself with how powerful their kick was and knowing what a peppery spice aficionado I am, she brought a couple of them in for me. Upon the first bite they actually brought me to the fine line between uber-spicy and physical pain, causing me to pant and sweat profusely for about 20 minutes. I've never enjoyed the feeling of my head being on fire, but this was actually almost pleasant.

Interesting side note: it has been conjectured that spicy food addicts such as myself are actually given to a form of natural drug addiction due to the endorphin-boosting properties of most types of capsaicin-containing peppers.

Mt. Ascutney Hike

I had my friend W down for the weekend and we both decided to take a hike up the Weathersfield Trail on Mt. Ascutney on Saturday. The hike was beautiful (if not a bit hazardous due to ice & bad traction in many places). Want a bit of an adventure??? Try hiking in 6-12 inches of fresh snow on a trail where some genius decided that the blazes should be WHITE!!! (I thought that blue was one of the most universal trail blaze colors???) We ended up having to pause every 50-100 feet in order to spot the next blaze... doing this against a backdrop of freshly fallen snow and searching for white blazes on trees which in some cases already had numerous whitish natural coloration from lichens & whatnot. It was a refreshing but slightly taxing hike... we never made it to the summit due to our slow rate of progress, it would likely have been nightfall by the time we made it back down. I don't mind getting lost in the woods in warmer weather (with camping gear in tow), but getting lost in the woods in sub-zero temperatures and with no appropriate overnight equipment is entirely a different matter.

A sampling of the terrain

White Blazes + White Trails = ???

A lovely natural ice sculpture in the 'Little' Cascade Falls Ravine

A perspective on the size of the ravine

W and I

My ever-so-delicious homemade soup, You are now pwned!!! I am teh soupmaster!!!

Harassing 'Spud', my roommate's cat (who is obviously so pleased to be lavished with such attention, hehee). Doesn't he look adorable in that silly sweater that she made him wear!!!?

Parade of FREA... errr... Interesting People

OK, so there are mixed opinions in some circles as to whether or not the lunar cycles affect people's personalities, particularly the full moon. I can tell you with certainty that I believe they do. Having worked in the nursing field, I've observed that dementia patients get far rowdier and more unsettled (as well as exhibiting more pronounced unsettling behavior), and in retail, rude customers become more rude around the full moon. Between the crazy lady who lives in her van with 15+ pet rats... harassing the front counter people to give her a refund for a product which she has no proof of having bought... and not just harassing... she HUNG AROUND FOR OVER FIVE HOURS and proceeded to bombard different staff members with no less than three different versions of why she deserves a refund and how she obtained the product.... and the man who seemed to imply that we had somehow conspired to sell him sick fish (despite the fact that the illness manifested almost 2 weeks after he purchased them, pretty much all fish diseases are evident within a few days of purchase if they were sick at the time of purchase)... then getting incensed about the fact that he had to actually PURCHASE the medicine for curing the ones that hadn't died yet. And a whole other delectable onslaught of miscreants... The highlight of my day was the several hours of having to duck pipes and ductwork in a cobwebby basement room where I had to slouch like a hunchback because of the low ceilings (my back is killing me as a result)... and repeatedly plunging my hands & forearms into mud that smelled like a swamp filled with human waste... ( I was trimming pond plants of all vegetation & external roots and storing them for winter)... Ummm... let's just say that today was a bit of an ordeal and I am glad that it is done with. On the positive side, I went to Dimitri's house to watch O Brother, Where Art Thou? with him and his mother. I had never actually seen the film before and I have to say that I enjoyed it... such a quirky and creative adaptation. I also made a huge pot of my Italian(esque) gumboish soup... gumboish because my soups are typically so thick that they could be considered the bastard child of gumbo and soup. Will post the recipe at some point soon.