My name’s Bill, and my taste buds haven’t always been paved with asphalt.

My wife, daughter, and I live in southern New Jersey, although my tastes have been cultivated by a life on the road. My first encounter with the fire occurred at a chili cookoff at the Astrodome in Houston Texas in the mid 70′s. Later my tongue would be honed by exposure to the fierce cuisine of southeast Asia. It didn’t take long before I was hooked.

Now I look around our house and see entire shelves in the refrigerator and cupboard dedicated to sauces and salsas. Bottles of chile infused oil stand on the counter at the ready, and ristras hang on our walls. Our small garden features jalepenos, cayennes, serranos, and habaneros.

And nothing else.

As far as my current favorite hot sauce, I’d say it’s a toss-up between El Yucateco (green or red) and Sontava XX. We buy the Sontava by the case, and even then are literally unable to keep it in the house we use it so often. I’m looking forward to participating in the “review panel” here at HotSauceBlog.com. We “chile-heads” love swapping stories and reading about peppers and other spicy things almost as much as we do eating them!