20 in my 20th: Eat a Habanero

1. Eat a habanero. This could be raw, whole, or cooked in some dish. No ditching the seeds though.

For literally months, I would buy one habanero every so often while grocery shopping. For months they would one by one shrivel up, start to get funky dark spots, and get thrown into the garbage. 

Finally, one night (apparently last April 10th, according to the time stamp for this photo in my phone), while hanging out watching netflix by myself at my apartment, I convinced myself to just do it.

I grabbed the pepper, sized it up for a moment, and then took a big bite.

crappy phone pic

It was hot.
It made my eyes water.
It had surprisingly nice flavor.
It was really, really hot.
It made my belly hurt.
I wouldn't recommend it.

Yeah, it was pretty much crazy hot. Not anaphylactic-shock-inducing hot, but definitely oh-god-do-we-have-milk-in-the-house?! hot. If you're going to eat a habanero raw I hope you have tastebuds and intestines of steel.

They are pretty nice when used sparingly though, like in salsa or to spice up a marinade or something. They have kind of a fruity, mellow flavor beneath the heat.

I do kind of feel like a badass for having done this though. Way to go, year-ago me!

Sesame-Seared Tuna and Tempura Papaya Sushi with Spicy Sesame Sauce and Papaya Chutney

Quite a title, eh? SO. Remember that foodie fights thing I told you about like... 2 days ago? Well, guess who snagged a spot on the battle...um... kitchen this week? That's right, baby. After missing my chance last week, I made sure to be all over the sign-ups this week, even though I had no idea what to create with the ingredients- sesame seeds and starfruit. After a bit of thinking I came up with a sushi idea, but alas! No starfruit was to be found. Luckily Dan and Nick saw that starfruit availability might be an issue, so they decided to allow papaya as a substitute. I've never cooked with papaya, but they've been in every grocery store recently- so what better time to go ahead and try them out? Papaya slid into starfruit's spot in my mental recipes without a problem, and what was manifested was pretty darn spectacular.