Spicy

The spiciest food I've ever had, I've had in Thailand. By far.

We were eating dinner the other day, and there was an innocent-looking chili paste sitting in a small bowl on the far end of the table. I asked "How hot is it?" The reply: "Only a little hot. Don't worry." Like a fool, I put a medium-sized dab on a piece of fish and ate it. The world was instantaneously consumed in fire, and I began to shake and sweat profusely, and my eyes and nose started to expel all sorts of fluids.

When I came to, the Thais around the table were responding in that ways that Thais always do to another's minor misfortune: by laughing uproariously. Meanwhile, a 5-year old girl was calmly eating spoonfuls of the stuff.

Humiliating.

btj