Hell Night Number 4: I Must Be Insane

There's really no other explanation for it. Why would a sane person sit on the phone for an hour hitting redial, hoping to get a reservation for an event where success is measured in pain, sweat, tears, and day-after uncomfortable GI effects, and then go to that event, bringing along a whole group of friends who also want to experience the madness?

Hell Night at East Coast Grill. This was my fourth experience, and of course I'll be back, because there's just no stopping this addiction. I wrote about my first time in detail here, so this post will mainly be photos.

By the way, just as I'm starting to get comfortable with ghost chili, a hotter pepper claims the title. Enter Naga Viper. Doesn't that sound totally badass? Vipers > Ghosts, definitely.

Before I post a giant string of photos, I just want to say an extra special thanks to Meesh of Just Add Cheese! and Emily of A Cambridge Story, two bloggers whom - before last night - I really only knew from the internet. (Well, I met Meesh briefly at a blogger event recently as well.) I had some last minute cancellations at my table, and Meesh and Emily heard my battle cry on Twitter and joined our table for a night of torture and euphoria.

Yep, euphoria. Really, really spicy food has a strange effect on me, and maybe on you as well. Through the pain, through the sweat, through the simultaneous chills and tastes-like-burning, a curious lightheaded euphoria seeps through, and that's why I keep going back. The closest feeling I can think of is a runner's high...but you don't need to run for this one. You just need to eat. (Hmmm...I think I prefer the chili high.)

Anyway. Spicy food porn time.

Happy Hell-O-Daze!

This time around, the Hell Pasta consent form was grinch-themed.

Joel signed away our lives; we all tried the pasta.

Bloggers Meesh (Just Add Cheese!) and Emily (A Cambridge Story)

Cornbread provides sweet, sweet relief. Better than ordering "the antidote" because they don't mock you for the cornbread!

Southeast Asian Style “Wings of Ass Destruction” with Ghost Chile Jam, Ginger, & Aromatic Herbs - At my second and third Hell Nights, these were almost as unbearable as the Pasta From Hell, but this time around, they weren't tooooo painful. AND they were delicious!

Russian Roulette Style Italian Spicy Meat Ball with Angry Tomato Sauce - Turns out I was one of the roulette winners (losers?) this time around. I swallowed mine in one bite and immediately tasted the gasoline-like Scotch bonnet flavor. For a few seconds, it was mild. Then it built. And built. And kept building.

Chris (far right) also got one of the eight-bombers. (Actually, the person on the left is also Chris.)

Masala Rubbed Grilled Giant Shrimp with Radish - Cucumber Relish & Hot Peach Chutney

Middle Eastern Style Smoked & Slice Lamb Shoulder with Sweet n' Hot Apricot Relish, Mint Cous Cous & Pomegranate Glazed Carrots - Mild and wonderful. A good cool down dish if you're looking for one.

This must have been a late addition to the menu because I'm not seeing it online, but it was tuna and it was tasty.

Smoked Pork Carnitas Stuffed Whole Roasted Banana with Pequin Pico de Gallo & Green Sour Cream

Death in a bowl: Pasta From Hell with Sausage Bolognese & Naga Bhut Jolikia. It burns. But if you go to Hell Night, you should get one for your table. Everyone should try this once. You will hurt when you eat it, you will hurt later, and you will hurt the next day. Oh, and don't forget to wash your hands very well if you touch this, especially before using the bathroom or taking out contact lenses.

West Indies Smoked Pork 3 Way... Jerk Shoulder, Crispy Ribs & Scotch Bonnet Sausage, with Guava Lava Glaze, Real Inner Beauty Hot Sauce, Curried Pickled Pineapple & Stewed Callaloo Greens

Emily's husband Chris prepares to try the pasta.

Meesh contemplates how much this is going to hurt.

Emily has some regrets about that bite of pasta.

Dan is on fire.

The legendary Dr. Pepper

Ah, another Hell Night come and gone. I guess I'll have to make it five and go again next time. Until then, where can I get me some of those Naga Vipers?

Whole Sea Bream from New Deal Fish Market

I first discovered New Deal Fish Market last year, when one of my grad school classmates, Roxy, was putting in some hours there as an apprentice fishmonger. It's a bit hidden if you're not from the area, located in the outskirts of Inman Square, heading towards Lechmere, directly across from Mayflower Poultry (home of the famous "Live Poultry Fresh Killed" sign.)

I love buying fish at New Deal because the staff is extremely knowledgeable, friendly, and full of good suggestions. Go in with a vague idea of dinner and they'll flesh it out for you.

Back in mid-October, I found myself at Christina's Ice Cream in Inman to meet up with Ben from A Year From Scratch. We had been housemates back in college and recently realized that we were both food bloggers in Boston, so we had a Rochester food reminiscing session. There was an idea of a future Rochester-themed get-together. Want in on the garbage plate-alicious fun? Email me and let's make it happen! (Wondering what a garbage plate is? You probably don't want to know, but here you go.)

Anyways, after ice cream, I found myself wandering around Christina's Spices, where you can probably find just about any spice you'll ever need. Overwhelmed, I left with only a bag of dried Thai hot chili peppers. 

Wondering what to do with the peppers and what to eat for dinner, I called Joel and told him to meet me at New Deal. On the way over, I passed Tupelo and saw that they had an alligator special, but we decided to save that for another day and go with the fish.

We left New Deal with two whole sea breams, which we stuffed with red peppers, chili peppers, and lime.

When Joel was on a business trip in Japan last year, he realized that chopsticks are great for eating whole fish, because it's easier to avoid the bones.

Definitely check out New Deal if you're looking for high quality seafood and knowledgeable sellers. They often have sushi-grade fish, too.

Date Night with Wanchai Ferry - Product Review and Giveaway

Awhile ago, I joined a blogger program called MyBlogSpark, and they recently sent me a "date night" prize pack consisting of boxed Dry Dinner Kits from Wanchai Ferry and Macaroni Grill, plus a $25 Visa gift card to round out the date night. Read on to find out how you can win your own date night prize pack.

After a hectic Thanksgiving week of many late nights catching up with family and old friends, we were ready for a stay-home-wearing-hoodies-on-Sunday-night type of date night, so the kits seemed like a nice low-stress option. These dinner kits contain almost everything you need for dinner; you just buy the chicken (or other meat or non-meat of your choosing) and any other additions you'd like to make, follow the directions, and voila! Dinner! (You'll also need water and vegetable oil.) The Wanchai Ferry Orange Chicken kit appealed to me more than the Creamy Basil Parmesan Chicken and Pasta, so that's what we used for dinner.

Spoiler alert: Date night also included Adult Chocolate Milk and alcoholic whipped cream. More on those after the main course!

The contents of the Wanchai Ferry dinner kit:

Orange sauce, rice, hot peppers, and seasoned cornstarch (not pictured)

We decided to add baby corn and more heat:

Those are ghost chili pepper flakes. Yep.

I like to keep stocked up on ghost chili supplies, which I order from this site. These flakes definitely added some heat, but it wasn't overwhelming.

We followed the super-easy instructions on the box, which helpfully includes some suggested variations.

The box promises that dinner will be ready in "about 30 minutes", and it was. We served it with a side salad:

Close-up:

Honestly, I wasn't expecting much. Dinner-in-a-box seemed a bit like cheating, and I doubted it would taste good...but it was actually pretty decent. I mean, it's really not much different from using a store-bought sauce, which I do all the time. It's certainly a few big steps above frozen dinner because we bought and cooked the chicken; it wasn't pre-cooked and included in the kit. The weakest link was probably the rice. It wasn't bad, but it had a minute rice texture; it didn't seem very high quality.

These boxes are helpful if you don't want to think too much about putting a meal together. Orange chicken? Ok, all we need is the chicken. And maybe some veggies. The sauce, seasoned cornstarch, rice, and hot peppers are ready to go. Pretty convenient.

We used half of the Visa gift card to buy a Gewürztraminer; we thought the sharpness of the wine would match nicely with the spiciness of the meal, and it did.

I also decided that it was finally time to break out the tea set my parents gave me for my birthday back in June. It's a Japanese cast iron set from Teavana.

We drank green tea from Tea Zone, a spectacular shop near Porter Square in Somerville. If you like tea, you should definitely go here.

Since it was date night, dessert was a must. We had some leftover apple empanadas that Joel's brother, Dan, had made for Thanksgiving. (When Dan's not busy as a musician, he's making empanadas with his girlfriend, Clara. Check out their website and recent feature on Mo Rocca's show on the Cooking Channel, food(ography).)

We spent the second half of the gift card on alcoholic whipped cream, which we served with the empanadas.

Delicious. And strong.

Finally, we curled up on the couch to watch Dexter, and we had an after dinner drink of Adult Chocolate Milk, which we would have topped with more whipped cream, but our can was a dud and we couldn't get anything else out of it. (It turns out that the liquor store sent back the whole case; it's not usually so hard to get out of the can.)

Adult chocolate milk with little bits of alcoholic whipped cream fail.

The chocolate milk is fantastic. It tastes sort of like chocolate Bailey's. The company's website doesn't list Massachusetts as a place where it's sold, but I bought mine at the liquor store in the Porter Square shopping plaza, and I've also seen it at the big store in Davis Square.

I'd say it was a pretty successful date night: good food, some time to relax, an assortment of alcoholic drinks and food, Dexter...fun times.

The Giveaway
Want to win the same prize pack and have your own date night? Leave a comment here about your favorite stay-at-home date night, either one that's already happened or one that you'd like to make happen. Enter by Friday, December 10th, at 7pm. I'll choose the winner by a random drawing. This prize is provided by Wanchai Ferry and Macaroni Grill through MyBlogSpark.

Disclosure: As noted above, I received this prize pack (two dinner kits and a Visa gift card) at no charge through Macaroni Grill and Wanchai Ferry via MyBlogSpark. The gift card covered a bottle of wine and a bottle of alcoholic whipped cream. I bought all other items (chicken, baby corn, ghost chili products, Adult Chocolate Milk) at regular price. Since I'm not backed by the budget of a publication, I do on occasion accept free food, product samples, and services. This is always noted in the blog post. When I receive free food, product samples, or services, I am under no obligation to write a positive review - or any review. Regardless of cost, everything written here represents my full and honest opinion.

Cheeseboy

Cheeseboy, a glowing beacon of cheese and bread and butter, welcomes travelers from near and far to South Station. A cheesy treat upon your arrival? Maybe one to carry onto the commuter rail after work, driving your fellow commuters mad with jealousy?

I was in transit; after work, I headed to South Station to attend a nearby event on sustainable food businesses - more on that later - but with 20 minutes to spare, it was finally time to try Cheeseboy.

"The best things in life are cheese," says the company website. A few years ago, I probably wouldn't have agreed. Aside from pizza and French onion soup, I neglected cheese for quite some time. I just didn't think I liked it. It slowly crept back into my life. First, I'd sprinkle a little bit of grated asiago or parmesan on my pasta. Then, in college, I realized that one of the dining halls made an amazing grilled cheese, and it was all downhill from there. Now, I'm even getting into softer cheeses, slowly. Goat cheese is my newest obsession. Yesterday, every meal I ate featured cheese.

At Cheeseboy, you can choose your bread (Italian, rye, multigrain, wheat), your cheese (American, cheddar, light Swiss, muenster, provolone), and toppings (a variety of meat and veggies). There is, of course, tomato soup.

I got Italian bread with provolone, topped with basil and tomatoes, and accompanied by tomato soup. The sandwich comes packaged in a perfect cardboard box, much like a pizza:

Finally, cheesy goodness:

Ah, bliss. Perfectly buttery and gooey and cheesy. The tomato soup was thick and comforting.

I have no idea why there wasn't a line out the door for this place; I was there right at rush hour and only had to wait a few minutes. Next time you find yourself in South Station, you should definitely visit Cheeseboy.

December Updates

Wow, I have so many posts in various stages of done-ness. Coming up: more cupcake questing, event recaps, product reviews, cookbook and book reviews...

I promise more frequent updates soon, but life is so busy right now. Writing/tweeting/facebooking about stem cells by day, building BostonFoodBloggers.com by evening, recording a debut CD with The Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library by night...everything is wonderful, but there just aren't enough hours in the day.

I'm glad that I've at least been able to catch up with so many of you at recent blogger events!

Speaking of blogger events...we're having a launch party for BostonFoodBloggers.com in January! More information here. Hope to see many of you there!

Well, just wanted to let you know that I haven't disappeared entirely, and Fork it over, Boston! will be less neglected very soon!