Lots of ways to up the heat in things. As I noted I'm particular the Red Savina cultivar which is about twice as hot as regular habeneras (world's hottest 94 - 06). The thought of tabasco sauce in my jelly makes me cringe... a flavor I really don't like. If a person really has a death wish there is a new "world's hottest" in the Bhut Joloki or Ghost Pepper. Measured at over a million scoville heat units it should be hot enough. Purified capsicum is available over the Internet if you want to hit 15-16 million scoville units. The "Dave's" brand of hot sauce has a new one hitting 13 million out of the bottle. People have reported hallucinations after eating lesser Dave's products... not impossible. I've eaten the regular Dave's Insanity Sauce more then once... the first drop you eat is never ever fogotten... sort of burnt into your mind. Dave's is dangerous at a party as the first person to try it will not taste any heat for a few seconds... long enough for the second lemming to leap... when the heat kicks in people can't talk. Without the ability to warn other guests pretty soon everyone is standing around looking at each other being speechless. All sort of makes a regular habenera at 100,000 - 350,000 scoville heat units seem like a mild animal. A regular jalpeno is 5,000 - 15,000 SHU for reference. Police pepper spray is about 5,000,000 SHU. Hottest thing I ever ate was a raw cayenne! IMHO scoville heat units don't fully capture what make a pepper hot. One cayenne pepper fresh from the garden made my mouth foam for 10 minutes... it was gross. No harm done... I was half drunk and went on to finish getting intoxicated. Another thing to consider is that pepper heat changes as you cook it. At first it has an instant brilliant zingy bite-you kind of heat which after cooking for some hours (next day) will cook down to an after burn warm heat that comes on a few seconds after it is eaten. Lots for a cook to play with getting the right combination of raw heat and cooked down heat flavors. Years ago when I was learning to cook curry I was introduced to the concept of adding fresh pepper before serving to reignite the raw flavor. I don't consider myself a "chili head" as the hot pepper crazy people refer to themselves. For the most part I just cook with them. My garden keeps producing new varieties... it was an ex-gf that first gave me Red Savinas to grow. Like other vegtables nothing beats fresh! Lots of Dave's products as well as dried Bhut Joloki ($27/lb + shipping) available on Amazon if you want to get crazy. Purified capsicum and Red Savina peppers/powder/sauce/chocolate bars available from redsavina.com. LOL... I just happened to be window shopping hot pepper products last night. Going to spray my sunflowers with pepper spray this year to see if I can keep the deer from eating them. Yeah... I did say they make chocolate bars with hot pepper! I've found a couple types and LOVE them... who would have thought chocolate and hot pepper would be a good combination... addictive. : ) lyra

ah--i'm happy to know that i'm not the only one that almost missed this event! but you know i wouldn't let it pass by without my very best wishes for a wonderfully happy and healthy year! you've helped me many times and in ways beyond the confines of my kitchen linda and for that i thank you. happy, happy birthday to you!

Oh, Woodsy you may be right it does sound like Yarbrough if you say it fast. This is atrocious, don't you think? It reminds me of Precious Moments, gads. Now I'm wondering what the so called french furniture looks like. I pictured gorgeous chandys and gold leaf clouded mirrors, very old and straight from Paris. Oh well, maybe I will be surprized and the furniture will be drop dead, but that is doubtful. This is really not antique but more of a collecter item. According to the internet the company started in 1953. Woodsy, you are a doll for taking the time and looking this up for me. I love this site. Thanks so much and I will let you know what happens tomorrow. Happy New Year!

OMG....!! I'll counter with one I have handy....but even then I think I owe you one....or maybe 3....sounds fabulous!! Soup,chilled cucumber I call this Bridal Luncheon Cucumber Soup, because I have served it at several bridal luncheons. The card says it's from "Cooking Across the South" a cookbook of my daughter's. 2 large cucumbers 1 clove of garlic 1 tsp salt 1/2 Tsp dry dill weed 1 cup lemon juice 2 8 oz cartons of sour cream 2 cups half and half And milk to make it thin enough Chopped chives and cucumber slices for garnish Peel and seed the cucumber and puree in a blender. Pour in the sour cream and 1/2 and 1/2 and mix well....add milk as needed to thin if desired. Chill and serve garnished with chives and cuke slices.