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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Harnessing the power of peppers

In his latest "Drug Report," Michael Johnson reports on the sensory altering properties of hot peppers and describes an adventure in a Thai restaurant that resulted in "seeing" Angelina  Jolie in the next booth.

After I read Michael's piece, my wife announced we were going to a Chinese restaurant for dinner, so I tried to replicate Michael's experience by making my kung pao chicken as hot as possible. Laura Linney did not appear at the next booth, so I guess the experiment was a failure.


9 comments:

Oz Fritz said...

At the risk of sounding like a Chinese fortune cookie: no experiment is a failure except the one that doesn't get made. The majority of scientific experiments don't yield expected results. However, negative findings still provide valuable information.

Spices can definitely alter consciousness.

michael said...

Oh, man. I dig Laura Linney too.

Last night I had some Indian red curry in an order of chicken vindaloo "extra spicy" and it was good, but seemed about half as sweat/endorphin-inducing as the last time I ordered the same thing, same place. It's almost as if you have to contact the chef and say, "Hey man: I'm serious. I know I look like an ordinary white dude to you, but I want the real thing."

How do you like Hope Davis?

Anonymous said...
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Roman said...

It's nice to be able to "see" Laura Linney or Angelina Jolie when you eat spicy food. However, I'm more concerned with what you may "see" *after* you eat it and the hot mass travels through your alimentary canal to its inevitable dissolution in the Ceramic Bowl of Shame (CBS). Perhaps you'll "see" G. Gordon Liddy or Rush Limbaugh? Seems like the two visions -- beauty and the beast -- would cancel each other out, esthetically speaking?

michael said...

Roman: those of us who play the game know what's at stake, and the Next Day does have it's delightful little moment alone, in the office...that is the price of playing. I have never hallucinated there, but it does remind me of Fox and Friends, aesthetically.

Cleveland Okie (Tom Jackson) said...

Always interesting to see which blog posts generate the best comments!

Michael: I like Hope Davis fine, and she has had a knack for showing up in good movies.

Oz: I probably lack the "stomach" to boldly go where Michael goes.

LJ said...

"It is asserted by many that prolonged stimulation from capsaicin releases B-endorphins from the brain.." Mmmmm...

Chilli makes you feel good, but you need for chinese you need Shichuan or Hunan cuisine for real effects.

Sadly even after eating what I was told was the spiciest thing in Bangkok, soft crabs and chillis, all I could see was crowd around me laughing appreciatively!

Roman said...

Michael: All this talk bathroom talk reminded me of one of my favorite potty-related "sayings," curtesy of the inimitable David Markson, who once replied to a critic's scathing review of one of Markson's books thusly: "Dear Critic, I am sitting in the smallest room of my house. I have your review before me. In a moment it will be behind me."

nakchtra devi said...
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