The Great Pepper Incident

I realized over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend that I had not yet shared the story of "The Great Pepper Incident of 2004." Although why would I think of such a thing? That was a while ago. The Irishman learned his lesson.

Or not.

The Great Pepper Incident of 2004
The year before we were engaged, the Irishman came to Houston for Thanksgiving. I was so excited to get to take him to see where I grew up. Of course, a trip to Houston is not complete without visiting Pappasitos.

Look at all that yummy goodness.

You see, Pappasitos always puts one whole jalapeno pepper on the top of the fajitas. As for me, I avoid the thing like the plague. I don't do hot peppers. I watch other people make that mistake eat fire. That is close enough for me.

The Irishman loves the wimpy banana peppers that come with Papa John's pizza. He saw the jalapeno pepper on the top of the fajitas and picked it up. Mom and I immediately suggested that this was not a good idea. He said he would just cut it and take a piece. Again, we suggested it was not a good idea.

The Irishman decided it could not be as bad as we suggested.

He took a stupid large bite of the pepper.

As with most hot peppers, the first couple of chews are fine. As he started to say, "It's not that ba-" it hit him. His eyes began to water. His face turned red. He had a mouth full of fire.

I almost fell out of my chair laughing.

When he retells the story, it seems that all he could think about was the fact that his future mother-in-law was at the table. He would not spit it out in front of her. His eyes were watering too much for him to see the bathroom. He was stuck.

Mom and I tried to steer him away from the water. We suggested tortillas instead. He went for the water.

He must have really stood out. The waiter could tell that he "wasn't from around here" and gave us free sopaillas. I am fairly certain that he thought the Irishman was visiting from Ireland and not via Florida, but after the events of that day, we decided that we would just go with it!


The "Some-People-Never-Learn Incident" of 2008
Now Thanksgiving of 2005, my mom knew that the Irishman was determined to have a rematch with the jalapeno. He was mortified when she asked the waiter to give us a mild pepper. Thanksgiving of 2007, the Irishman and Julie's boyfriend each munched on a pepper. (Men!) Last August, the peppers were recalled. Mom and I had forgotten about the Irishman's pepper problem. Thanksgiving 2008 we had a repeat of "The Great Pepper Incident of 2004." I've come up with many names for the event.

Those darn little peppers. (Sorry for the fuzzy picture. I used my phone.)

This picture was actually part of the problem.

The Irishman saw me take this picture and was not happy. You see, the picture was proof that he hadn't eaten the whole thing.

So he ate the rest. Only he didn't eat it quick. Mom and I were shouting at him trying to persuade him to spit out it. I promised not to blog about it if he spit out the pepper. We both promised to lie for him. It would be our really big little secret.

He didn't trust us. He ate the whole darn thing. Slowly. It sat on his tongue for long enough that you could visually see that it was red and swollen.

I think it is a man thing.

I did disclose that his eating the whole pepper meant that the whole ordeal was considered fair game for blogging.

That comment must have been after this picture was take. I believe he spit out his water when I said that.