The Endorphin Rush of my capsaicin addiction

In one of those weird twists, I somehow got on the topic of talking about my hot food addiction earlier today on Facebook. I like VERY hot food; habaneros, capsaicin extract sauces, the works. Flavor plus heat is great, but OTOH, sometimes you’re just looking for the 100,000+ Scoville unit hit. Today turned out to be one of those days. *grin*

Dinner was casual tonight, so I ended up at (irk!) McDonald’s (but hey, it’s been awhile). I ordered McNuggets and fries and brought them home, along with honey mustard sauce. But as I sat down at the kitchen table I remembered the conversation from earlier, and realized I simply HAD to toss these down with some fire.

Luckily, I received some high-quality goods (Dave’s Insanity Sauces; several flavors) as a gift this past Christmas…I have a fresh supply. (Extract sauces are so hot that even I take some time to get through a full-sized bottle, and often it’s kind of stale before I’m finished.) I started with the Dave’s Total Insanity, which I hadn’t tasted before. It’s not top of the line, heat-wise, but it has a bit more flavor than the strongest sauces, which tend to taste like dirt (fiery hell-dirt, but dirt) to me.

Total Insanity has a nice hint of garlic to it, and I made quick work of about half a dozen McNuggets, with a generous dollop of sauce smeared on each. There’s no WEAK Dave’s sauce, so the heat quickly kicked in, and I sat back for a moment to enjoy it. The sweat, the eye-watering buzz, the tongue-searing heat. Ah.

But Total Insanity is definitely the light end of the Dave’s Gourmet line, so I switched to a bottle of regular ol’ Dave’s Insanity Sauce to finish off the nuggets. I then proceeded to dip my fries down the neck of the bottle, coating them in the powerful gunk. Yowza! THAT kicked it in…the brain stepped up another level as a rush of endorphins hit to try and save what was left of my mouth, lips, and tongue. I’m on fire!! LOL

I’d gotten out of the habit of eating hot sauces regularly; I handle our pet hairless rats daily, and they have both sensitive skin and a habit of licking the tips of your fingers, which wouldn’t be a good idea tonight. I need to remember that, and be a bit more careful…use a BBQ brush or something, I guess. But I’ve still got my tolerance, which is good, and I definitely enjoyed the meal. I finished things off with a crisp Granny Smith apple; the tart fruit was a wonderful change, as I let the remnants of the pepper ebb away.

Thanks to Barry for reminding me what a great idea McNuggets and habaneros can be!