I'm thankful for... Habanero-infused tequila!

Well, it's the Saturday after thanksgiving, and of course i'm still full from all the usual suspects (turkey, stuffing, mashies, etc). Our family has done the same classic dishes for decades now, and they never really get old. At the same time, however, we're always looking for something new and exciting to try....this year, we made habanero-infused tequila! Before I get into the nitty gritty of the process and the final product, i'd like to talk about habaneros a little bit.

Habaneros are small (.8-2.5 inch), orange-red chili peppers with a thin skin and wrinkled shape. They are the spiciest chili pepper, next to the "ghost chili." Spicy heat is rated on what's called the "Scoville scale," which measures the capscaisin content in a pepper. Capscaisin is a chemical compound that stimulates nerve receptors and enables us to hence feel the "pain" or spicy heat of chilis, and the highest concentration in peppers is found in the seeds and pulp. To put this in perspective, pimentos or peperoncinis have a rating of 100-500 SHUs (Scoville heat units). Jalapenos have a rating of 2,500-8,000 and habaneros have a rating of 350,000-600,000. As I mentioned before, the ghost pepper is the only chili spicier than a habanero, and it has a rating of 855,000-1,000,000 SHUs. FYI, pepper spray has a rating of around 5 million SHUs. I've never experienced pepper spray, or a ghost chili for that matter, and frankly i dont want to! Habaneros are damn spicy enough.

So, all this being said, we weren't sure how to proceed. I had asked the bartender at Tacolicious (in the Marina District here in SF) how they make their habanero tequila, and he said they just chop some up and let them marinate in a container of blanco tequila for a few hours. Now there are a lot of unknowns with this recipe: what's the ratio of tequila to habaneros? with or without the seeds? in a freezer, fridge or at room temp? So we consulted the Internet for any additional details. One blog said to remove the seeds, and let the spice slowly integrate, this way you get more of the actual flavor from the habanero. This seemed reasonable to us, so we chopped up 3 habaneros, slicing them into strips length-wise (seeds removed), and put them into 750ml of blanco tequila.

We tasted it every hour or so, and it had a nice tingle of spice in the back of the throat, but not enough (we had to take into consideration the juice that we'd be mixing in there, thus diluting it). So we put it in the fridge over night, and after 24 or so hours total, we decided that the spice level had plateaued, and we took out the habaneros.

So, margaritas: we mixed 1 part tequila with 2 parts pog juice (passion orange guava), some fresh lime, and a splash of cointreau.

I thought it was delicious. Some of my family members thought it was missing something, perhaps the pog juice wasn't ideal (we were originally looking for plain passion fruit nectar). In general though, I thought the spiciness was perfect, the flavors were awesome, and it definitely tasted less fake-sweet than house margaritas. Next time we might try dicing the habaneros smaller and/or keeping some of the seeds to get it a little spicier.

Habanero Thanksgiving everyone!

Live, Love, Fear the Beard!

Ah, Brian Wilson. You and your silly, contrived, fake dyed black beard have not only inspired thousands (millions?) to grow out their beards, wear stick-on beards, make T-shirts, and create a facebook page for Brian Wilson's Beard, it's inspired me to dedicate a blog post to it. Woopty-doo you may say. But that's what we all said about you when you told us in your captivating "Life of Brian Wilson" YouTube shorts that you were starving because room service was unavailable! So here's to you, my bearded neighbor!

That beard has really started a movement here in SF, and amongst Giants fans around the country. You know, a one-on-one interview with Brian would be clutch right now, because i have some questions about this beard: who started it, Brian or Romo?

Romo's is obviously a lot more natural. And he was rocking that weird King Tut chin hair long before Brian did anything with his face...

Regardless, why did Brian do it? He told Jay Leno that they were all growing out their beards until they lost (which they never did, obviously). But why did he feel the need to dye it black? Was it really to be intimidating? I mean, I thought he looked pretty silly when I was walking down Fillmore with him the other day. (I should've taken that opportunity for my 1-0n-1 interview!) But if I saw this:

I'd be scared! And seriously, as a batter, 9th inning, no one on base, etc etc, this guy throwing 95+ mph fastballs at you would probably shake you up a little.

Anyway, this whole discussion has made me think of appearances and what they mean in society. Yes, i know wearing wife beaters, boxers, and trucker hats in high school probably made people perceive me as a slob (my mom did, anyway). But we also know that you can't judge a book by its cover. Brian Wilson's actually a total goofball (check out the above-mentioned "Life of Brian Wilson" YouTube videos). But appearances do provoke opinions when you don't know anything about that person otherwise. So what about Brian's big, dark, wooly beard? Fine! i'll just come out and say it. He wanted to look how people envision terrorists: thick beards, mysterious, and intimidating.

Now everyone (at least in SF/California) knows that terrorists don't always have beards, and beards don't always make someone a terrorist. Look at Fadi, for example. Sweet innocent Palestinian boy, afraid he might get stopped at the airport.

But thanks to Brian, Romo, etc, now everyone and their mother has a big thick beard, so no one can really be racially profiled! So I say kudos to you, Giants and Giants fans, for revamping the stereotypes and reminding us that you can't assume anything based on appearance!

Ben Tuller's "A New Way Home"

Tonight, my dear friend and classmate at King's College in Cambridge (go Camby-town!) Ben Tuller graced a group of about 200 of us with a private screening of his new film, "A New Way Home." I am so proud that someone, just a few years after getting a BA in Film Studies, could inspire, envision, create, and distribute such a meanful and beautiful film.

"A New Way Home" is a 40-minute documentary film describing George Mark Children's House and the stories of three families who have utilized the facilities in the final moments of their childrens' lives. George Mark is a children's hospice, the only one of its kind, which had to unfortunately shut its doors in March due to a lack of funding.

The film was incredibly moving, and there was not a dry eye in the house, not just because the subject matter was so utterly devastating, but because of Ben's taste and delicate style as a filmmaker. I say "delicate" meaning he wasn't heavy-handed with self-reflective stylistic/editing tactics like so many artsy amateur filmmakers. This was crucial to the delivery of the message; large film companies actually tried to make a film about George Mark and they were rejected, but since Ben had actually volunteered at the hospice and really cared about the patients and their families, he got the green light! And I'm so glad he did. His unpretentious portrayal of just the pure raw truth (with some artistic touches) made the film really resonate.

I cried the whole time. I don't know why I didn't pick up a pack of the tissues they provided at the door. Ben has submitted the film to several film festivals, and I strongly encourage everyone to see it. Yes, it's hard to watch in a way, but it's also a significant reminder that we have our health, we have our loved ones, we've been able to laugh, cry, love, and live through things like middle school, a Giants World Series victory, or even stupid things like parking tickets (I got one today).

So in conclusion, please see this film. Please support Ben Tuller, and most importantly, support George Mark and the families who truly rely on it and its staff. I will continue to post updates on the distribution and availability of this film. In the meantime, check out:

http://www.anewwayhomethemovie.com/

http://www.georgemark.org/

Ben, please feel free to comment/share your insights on this film (and please correct me if i messed up any details). Thanks again for an amazing film. I'm so proud of you!

The sun sets in the West...

Welcome to my new blog! Some of you may remember my blog "The Grape Crusher," which has been on hold for a while. To those of you who actually read that blog: sorry for neglecting it for so long! For those of you who haven't read that blog: don't worry! This one's going to be better, covering and array of topics (not just wine), and I'm going to be better about uploading pictures, videos, etc!

So that said, for this first post, i'd like to refer back to its title "the sun sets in the West." This, of course, is referring to the Giants finishing it off last night!

Man, I have so much to say i dont know where to start! Well first of all, i hope that champagne is Cook's or Andre (something that deserves to be sprayed all over and not actually ingested). Secondly, i love this picture because i think my bearded neighbor Brian's expression really captures the sentiment that all of us here in SF felt: pure euphoria. So while our boys were spraying champagne and hopefully finding a cool place to party across enemy lines, we were all getting hyphy ourselves:

This image takes me right back to Isla Vista during my college years. But people weren't jumping over piles of flaming debris because their team/city FINALLY won a world series. They were hurdling over flaming couches because, well, they were drunk and it was a random Tuesday. But last night was definitely better than any Halloween in Isla Vista, not only because cops didn't stop people from drinking and smoking ganja in the middle of the street, but because this moment has literally NEVER HAPPENED BEFORE! Sure, the Giants won a world series in 1954, but that was in NY, under completely different circumstances. This WS victory marks the FIRST for San Francisco, EVER! and the first in a long time for the Giants.

So i'm not even going to get into all the players and how they're a riff raff of misfits that no one believed would make it this far. But in the words of Tim Lincecum, "F*ck Ya!!!"