DO YOU LIKE IT HOT, AND WHAT ABOUT HUGGING??

Nope, I'm not talking about sex at the moment or the weather. (lol) We'll leave that to our good buddy Kitt Crescendo over at https://theinnerwildkat.wordpress.com/author/theinnerwildkat/,
and your local news channel.

Yep.  Once again my mind is on food! Most of what I eat has to have some heat.  So I'll add cayenne pepper or hot sauce to just about anything. Green beans, cheeseburgers, rice, noodles, nachos, steak - you name it, and I'll find a reason to spice things up.

Speaking of spice, Carolinians rejoice!  Not only do we have a pepper to call our own, but the Carolina Reaper is so hot at 1.569 million Scoville Heat Units,(SHU) that it made it into the World's Guinness Book of Records. Even better, it was created by a regular guy like you and me from South Carolina.  Determined to make the hottest pepper, Ed Currie worked diligently to keep crossbreeding peppers until he came up with this treat that will truly test your tastebuds.

Everyone talks about the Ghost Pepper, aka the Bhut Jolokia, but with a mere SHU of 1,041,427, it has nothing on the Reaper! http://carolinareaper.org   Feel free to order some at this site.

If you don't mind igniting your palate with 5 alarm spices, here are 2 restaurants to visit, which just happen to have been raved about on the Travel Channel.  In case you're wondering - I had to include a place that sells burgers. (lol)

The 4 Horsemen Burger at Chunky's Burgers in San Antonio Texas may bring fear into your heart. This phenomenal burger has the audacity to be topped with not 1, but 4 hot peppers:  jalapeno, serrano, habanero, and the infamous bhut jolokia, better known as the ghost chile. If you've got the stomach, tongue and courage, 25 minutes is all the time you'll get to finish in one piece.

If Texas isn't hot enough for you, head up to Manhattan(did you know Manhattan was the most expensive city to get married in 2014?) in New York for their famous Phaal Curry at The Brick Lane Curry House.  This fire inducing meal can't be eaten unless you sign a waiver to not hold the restaurant liable for any physical or mental damage.  If you eat it all in a challenge, you get a FREE beer and your picture on the wall.  Just for the record, drinking beer after all that heat doesn't do a dang thing to heal all the pain. (lol) Best to try real whipped cream, or any type of other dairy items.

This is an actual scene from the Travel Channel when
this meal was being prepared. Yikes!

Phaal Curry

What about you?  Are you willing to experiment with some spice to your life?

4th Annual New York City Hot Sauce Expo	April 23, 2016 – April 24, 2016	Brooklyn EXPO Center, 79 Franklin St Brooklyn, NY 11222
One of the most buzzed about food festivals in the country this year’s Expo will feature 45 different award winning hot sauce companies from various parts of the word. Complimented with free hot sauce tastings, craft beer, eating challenges, spicy food vendors, cooking demos, this year’s Expo will provide plenty of odd ball entertainment fun for the whole family. Plus, the second year of inducting 5 industry folks into the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame.

United States National Hot Sauce Festival	Jun 18, 2016 – Jun 19, 2016	Merriweather Post Pavilion, Columbia, MD
In between DC and Baltimore comes this 1st year festival. Details will unfold as the event grows near. Contact: cassidy@spefoody.com Phone: (240) 479-5400 OR alank@spefoody.com (240) 401-0973/    http://www.scottrobertsweb.com/

ICE CREAM YUMMINESS
After eating all that fiery fare, don't forget to get your icy treat at Baskin Robbins on March 31 for "Celebrate 31".  They're offering all  regular and kid scoops in one of your favorite flavors for just $1.31. Get the classics or try something new at participating locations. 

HUGS
When I was a kid, I don't remember any of my friends doing any excessive hugging, and it's not something I did much of either.  Fast forward to 2016 and

I'm now a certified hugger.  I think of every reason possible to give out cards and hugs, but I am often rebuffed in my amourous advances. (lol)  People aren't as touchy feely as they used to be, and I'm not sure why.  Still, if I can get away with it, new friends and old, family or strangers get bearhugs.*heh*

ROMANCE READERS
Did you know you can sample FREE books at www.romancewhenyouneedit.com?