Universal Chilli Scale

So I haven't really been out anywhere of late- well that's a lie- I have... but I have completely forgotten to take photos as I was too focused on eating and not focused on documenting my experience.

But I was having a conversation with Irish the other day about chilli. You see, he loves particular dishes to be hot, really hot- but we always have this issue when we order the dishes, they either come out way too mild, or they go overboard with the heat and its inedible. The latter happened at a thai restaurant we went to last year in the city. Irish made a massive effort to get across to the waitress that he wanted it hot, 'Hot hot'- he emphasized it so much, that the pad thai came out and I could not stomach one noodle of it, it burnt so much that I was sweating chilli.

So we thought there should be a universal chilli scale- from mildest to hottest. Be it numerical in representation or not, but probably easier if it was. So that next to each dish, it has a ranking of heat and EVERYONE knows exactly what that represents. What is hot to me may be mild to you, or vice versa, but with the chilli scale, we all know that a 7 to you is the equivalent of a 3 to me and then we will never get unpleasant surprises or crushing disappointments ever again.

I liken this to something I saw at a cafe a little while ago. I went to Zar Bar in Crows Nest. I was drawn in by the small crowd but I was impressed by the fact that it had a vegemite to butter ratio scale pinned up on the coffee machine. Grade 1 was a lot of butter, not so much vegemite, grade 2 was even quantities of both, grade 3 was toast with a sheet of black vegemite on it, very little butter. There were photos to help customers with their choice, and everyone was appreciative of the vegemite scale.



I have no idea how the chilli scale would be implemented or who would decide on the categories because I always forget that not only are there different levels of heat, there are different types of heat. There is the lingering heat, which stays with you long after you have eaten the dish. There is the intense but short kind of heat, it hits you hard but goes away within a few minutes. Then you have wasabe- not sure how to describe the wasabe effect other than to say if you get a big enough chunk it will make you cough involuntarily... twice.


Are we the only two that have the chilli issue when dining out? Any other unsatisfied chilli lovers out there? No? Well then... maybe we are getting all 'hot' and bothered over nothing!

Cheers,
Alana

Christmas 2012

I know it's been awhile since I've posted... the festivities during the holiday season completely took over and my blog momentarily slipped into a coma. Fortunately I have managed to revive it.

                                                                                                                                                                  

Honey Glazed Ham

I can't write about the holidays without mentioning the feast that my family prepared on Christmas night... all the right elements were involved. Oven baked ham, turkey, seafood (lobsters, prawns and oysters oh my!) not to mention the trout (delicious). Then there were family favourites that we bring out every year.

Trout! 

Desserts deserve their own category. We had the most delicate little dessert ice-cream thingies that my aunty picked up, probably from some obscure, hidden cake shop that she has discovered on her quest to find the perfect dessert.

Vegetable Salad

Even my mother drove from the northern beaches side of Sydney to Bondi just to purchase a particular chocolate cake. 

Potato Salad with mint and parsley dressing

I must mention that we have around 30 + relatives that do Christmas dinner together, it wasn't like we had a party of 5 trying to get through all that is pictured.

One of the seafood platters

During the night we managed to get all of us in front of a mac to Skype relatives of ours in Italy as they woke up on Christmas day. It was a true cross continent bonding moment.




What is a Christmas without the turkey and home made cranberry sauce?

Pictured to the right is a type of Veal Schnitzel one of my aunties makes that always goes down a treat. You normally have to be quick, no dish is guaranteed- in our family if you snooze you definitely lose.

Nothing says 'we are Italian' more than having lasagna on Christmas- it might not be traditional, but it tasted pretty damn good.

Another aunty of mine hosts a gingerbread house making day with a few of friends. I've never attempted to make one myself- sometimes it  is hit and miss with the actual taste of the gingerbread- this one was practically perfect- not too overpowering with the ginger and not too sweet.

Throw in a bit of fruit to make the whole night seem healthier...

I'm not sure what these little treats were- some sort of trifle type thing maybe?  They definitely look pretty...

These are the mini ice-creams I mentioned earlier- seriously amazing. They had an outer shell of white or milk chocolate and were either vanilla or chocolate flavoured. A whole ball could easily fit in your mouth in one bite. Just enough for a taste, not enough to expand your waist- though considering all that we consumed that night, I'm not sure that the ice-cream was going to make much of a difference.




Needless to say I rolled out of the door that night- fully satisfied and very merry. I hope everyone had a fantastic festive break, if only it lasted longer!

X Alana