Isn't there a brand of arthritis cream that uses the chemical that makes chili peppers hot as its active ingredient? Pretty sure I can figure out why. My fingers are soaked in that compound up to the second knuckles, and they sting like crazy...but in a really awesome way. I have the feeling that this would feel fantastic on sore muscles. I may have to try a tube of that arthritis cream, and see whether I like it as much as I imagine I would.
Dinner tonight for the game group was New Mexico-style green chile. I know I live in Colorado, and there's a local version of this stew, but I'm sorry, tomatoes do not belong in green chile. This time around, I didn't make a separate vegetarian version, and I felt bad for that, but I was just too tired after my long morning to put that much work into it. I had browned pork last night, so that I had one less step, and I'm glad I did. Dinner would not have happened if I'd needed to do it all today. As it was, I had to wait to start until I rested and scarfed down a sandwich from my local gluten free bakery and cafe (where I went after I learned the one I tracked down in Boulder today used oat flour in pretty much everything they made, and I was worried I'd get sick from just standing there, reading ingredient lists). I had a combination of peppers that I bought in the grocery store and some that we grew in our garden. If I had known we had so many Anaheim peppers hiding underneath the pumpkin vines that took over my yard, I would have gotten fewer at King Soopers. I have learned that roasting the chilies before they go into the stew is critical. I could have bought them roasted from stores or stands all over town, but I wanted to do it myself this time. I put them on the gas grill on my patio, and stood in unrelenting afternoon sun to blister and blacken all the peppers. I didn't realize this was a dangerous activity, until some of them split and the juice that dripped flared up while I was reaching in with tongs to turn the peppers. That added to the fun.
Once the peppers had been fire roasted and steamed in a covered casserole pan, I set about the tedious process of peeling the skins and chopping up what was left. It took me at least an hour from that point, what with all the breaks to come sit on my bed in front of the TV, to use the back roller to pop all my vertebrae that had squished down on each other and made me feel like I'd been compressed while deep sea diving. Standing over the cutting board, chopping peppers literally as well as figuratively crushed me. It would have been safer to do this with disposable gloves on, but I needed fingernails to pry the skins loose. If I had had any inkling that the spicy power of the hot peppers would have felt so interesting on my fingers for the rest of the evening, though, I might have rubbed a bit of it into my sore back muscles. Live and learn for next time.
As it was, the green chile was really good, and really hot. Maybe five jalapenos for one crock pot of stew was a little much.
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