The beloved curse of the Chile Pepper

I've found myself in dreams of burning tongues and fiery sweat dripping down a heavy breathing face ever so good. I've become addicted to anything Chile. It's an addiction that has taken stronghold over my appetite that I can't resist. Whatever is put in front of me to be devoured I find it necessary to douse it in the beautiful flavors of habanero, cayenne, bolivian rainbow, reds, serrano, savinas or tabasco peppers. The citrus aroma of a habanero makes my taste buds tingle, and my glands flow like a waterfall.

I long for late summer days of ripening peppers in the yard, where the joy of harvest brings pain to my mouth. Homemade hot sauce, home ground chile pepper, chile breads, chile omelets, chile chili, pickled chile's, and sun dried chile's fill my thoughts. Oh, to live in a world surrounded by peppers.

I... am Chile Head.

Habanero Omelet

I made a pretty kickass omelet today. I usually just make my omelets with eggs and cheese which come out perfect every time. This time I decided to add a habanero, onion and red chile pepper.

Here's a quick recipe:

3 Eggs
1 Red chile
1 Habanero
1/4 medium onion
1/4 Cup shredded Cheese

In a small skillet, warm a tablespoon of olive oil. Place a large skillet on a large burner set just under your medium setting. Chop habanero and chile into tiny pieces, almost a mince. Cut onion into whatever size you feel. Saute all 3 in the olive oil.



Submerge 3 eggs in warm water for 5 minutes. Crack into a bowl and beat.

Take a tablespoon of butter and melt into large skillet. It should not smoke but sizzle vigorously at the right temperature.

THIS IS TOO HOT:



If you get smoke, remove pan from heat and shake for 30 seconds to cool. Slightly turn down your temperature and place pan back on heat.

To make the perfect omelet, pour eggs into skillet and stir vigorously with a spatula for 5 seconds. Wait 30 seconds, then shake the pan to spread more liquid. Add cheese. take spatula and circle outside of pan to loosen omelet. Add onions, chile and habanero. After 1 minute, Fold edge of omelet over and roll onto a plate. The bottom should be browned just perfectly. Garnish with oregano and Cayenne pepper. (Or your favorite powdered chile).

The process is so quick I could not get photos after the butter stage. Maybe later, I'll have Melanie take the photos while I cook.

Where's all the snow?

Wow, what a winter in Michigan. At this point right now we have only received half the amount of snow that fell last year at this time. We actually had more snow fall than Anchorage AK last year. I am actually kind of glad that we had a mild winter.'

Spring couldn't come any faster. I am starting to prepare for garden season already. I ordered a vast amount of pepper seeds from pepperjoe.com and started germinating them indoors last week friday.





This year, I will be growing only peppers as we plan to buy a house in the middle of the summer. I can grow my peppers in containers and just bring them with me.

The peppers I chose to grow this year are Bhut Jolakia (The hottest pepper in the world) Which looks like this poking through:




Tabasco, Peter Pepper, Bolivian Rainbow, Turkish Cayenne, Fluorescent Purple, Hot Banana, Long Slim Red's, and Atomic Starfish. Yes, I know, this is a plethora of peppers. Just how I like it.

I will probably transplant 2 of each variety into 2 gallon containers except for cayenne and tabasco. I will grow 4 of each of those for hot sauce and cayenne pepper powder. I will choose the most vigorous of each and then just give the rest away.

I am quite disapointed that I can't have a larger garden this year but with my new house I will be able to have as big of garden as I choose which will be nice.


Bee season is also coming up. I gotta take a trip out to Saranac and check on the hives out there and supply feed as needed. The bees in my backyard did not survive the winter. They were a late swarm I took out of a tree and didn't have enough time to build up enough honey stores. I will clean out the hive in march and get it ready for new bees.

Look for more posts as spring gets busier and lots of photos as well!