Hot Peppers

I had lunch with Anton yesterday. We talked about the upcoming busy blogging Fall and he showed me his new book.

We ate in my neck of the woods, at Town Hall Grill in Southern Village in Chapel Hill. Anton brought his laptop - the wi-fi signal is strong, so, after Brian and Ruby get married tomorrow (OK, they already are), Brian can add this restaurant to the Chapel Hill Wireless map.

Being very hungry, and knowing that the food there is delicious, I came prepared. While Anton had their lightly-battered fish and chips, I ordered a NY strip.

When the food arrived I reached down into my pocket. Out of the pocket I took out a little bag. Out of the bag I pulled out a hot pepper. Anton was quite amused.

I learned that trick from an old childhood friend of my father. He always had a a couple of hot peppers in his shirt pocket, usually wrapped in a paper napkin and he would eat them with a meal wherever he may be. He even brought them and ate them at dinners at our house although he knew that we would most definitely have some really good and really hot peppers at home - we always did.

I grew up loving hot peppers - it was hard not to in my father's home. It is an acquired taste, I understand. I try to always have one or two at home, but it's not easy to find really good ones, or at least peppers that remind me of home.

This particular pepper that I had for lunch yesterday I bought at the Southern Village farmer's market last week. It was delicious! It was not just fantastically hot, but it also had a rich taste and smell of a pepper. I ate less than half of it but enjoyed every nibble.

Later in the afternoon I went to the farmer's market and told he guy who sold me the pepper how good it was and that, once I manage to eat it all by next Thursday, I'll be back for another one. He appreciated that.

And all this thinking abot hot peppers made me think about two Big Questions: Why are peppers hot? and Why we like to eat hot peppers? Those evolutionary questions sound like perfect topics for my next two blog posts, coming to your computer monitors soon.