Hot Enough for You?

It snowed again last night here in NoVa, and while it's not nearly as cold as it is in garden spots like Minnesota and upstate New York, it's plenty cold and snowy enough to make life miserable. One measure of the bitterly cold temperatures is my electric bill that arrived yesterday, and looks like the place Dominion Power picked to store all its extra digits.

I know I shouldn't be complaining about the cold, because in another six months or so I know I'll be complaining about the miserable damp heat of high summer, but it's my blog and I'll piss and moan if I want to. And I want to.

But I can also use this space to be proactive and think about warmer subjects ... like hot sauce.

I found this fascinating chart the other day ...

Yes, Dear Readers, sales in America of hot sauces of all kinds have skyrocketed since the beginning of the current century, while sales of more traditional sauces have remained relatively stable. The accompanying article attributes this meteoric rise to two things: the burgeoning immigrant population, particularly of Asians and Latinos, who tend to enjoy spicier foods; and the skyrocketing popularity of hot wings, of which we consume some 25 billion each year. For more hot topics, you can go back and review my blog post from last month in which I discussed the world's record-holding hot pepper.

So hoist your bottle of Frank's Red Hot Sauce, Tabasco, Cholula, Sriracha, or your hot sauce of choice and raise a toast to all things hot. You'll be begging for colder temperatures soon enough.

Have a good day. Bring in the brass monkey. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo