Posted January 21, 2007 by GoonieNick in Hot Sauce News

Welcome to the HSB: GoonieNick!

HSbers – Please welsome to the HSB yet another Nick – this Nick will be known as GoonieNick so there’s not any confusion. He joined us at the last Defcon Day and has decided to join the HSB reviewing team. Let’s give him a warm HSB welcome and if you’d like to know a bit more about him, check out his HSB author page here.

Greetings chili heads worldwide,

My name is Nick, not to be confused with Lindauer the chief operator of the hotsauceblog. I am 29 and yeah definitely just a tad bit crazy. I would say eccentric but as Dennis Hopper states in the movie Speed, “Poor people are crazy, I’m eccentric”. Therefore, it can be derived that I am not rich, at least not yet.

I am on here with the hopes of being able to add my contributions to the hot sauce world. I love to cook and try new things. I am definitely a true chili head by nature, in that I love to try new sauces, peppers, recipes, etc. I love them so much that I had to meet Huvason the other night outside Borders bookshop on Long Island to make a pickup! (The drug deal of chili heads, lol) Also I really enjoy the pleasure of having my veins opening up so endorphins can travel through.

“So when pain is inflicted upon an individual, B-endorphins are released causing a surge in dopamine concentration, leading to activation and stimulation of the limbic system. And upon ingestion of capsaicin, or chili peppers, the initial pain that we feel may be attributed to signals being sent to the central nervous system that increase our concentrations of B-endorphins, accounting for the famous ‘endorphin rush’ that many chili eaters experience. As a result, the initial pain is replaced with pleasure.”

Call me a masochistic if you want, especially if you saw the pics of me in the Defcon Day Deathmatch held at South Orange, NJ 1/14/07. That was my 1st hot wing-eating contest, my 1st meeting with any true chili heads, and basically any semblance of real time communication with chili heads. I walked in basically off the street and captured 2nd place! Lost by one wing! But then again Rocky Balboa beat Apollo Creed by one second to win the title, so I guess I will have to live with the defeat. Someone call John, of Defcon, and tell him I will be back!! (Which reminds me, will there be a Terminator 4? lol)

I am currently a secondary science teacher. I enjoy science, teaching, students, and working in the community. I am quite the hot sauce maniac where I work. I leave habanero jam in the faculty lounge; I trick my co-workers into having spicy chocolate peanuts and jellybeans. It is an educational experience for them. I leave small printouts every now and then in their mailboxes on the health benefits of chili’s. I still haven’t sold them on the idea yet!! If I told them that research shows that chili’s improve the sex life, I am sure they would convert. You may have seen some of my pics at my school. I have shelves built holding my hot sauce collection.

I am not a die-hard collector in that I feel I have to have every hot sauce ever made. My collection is based on finished bottles that I consume. I have only been a true chili-head for about the last 18 months. How did I get into all of this?

When I was a youngster I was always curious, as most children are. I wanted to put red pepper flakes onto my pizza. These were just the normal ancho flakes that can be purchased in your typical grocery store. My parents always told me, “Don’t put that on, it is really hot” I am stubborn and I heard this over and over. Well look at me now!! “Hello Mom, Hello Dad”¦. I’m your cherry bomb”, (Joan Jett Lyrics, lol)

I finally had my 1st flakes when I was a teen, and I was like “Hey this isn’t hot at all”. A few years later when I was 20 or so, my eldest sister brought home something called “Dave’s Insanity Salsa, lol” I tried it and was like “Holy cow this is the hottest stuff on earth!” I only had a dab and I was done. I thought that would be the end of my chili career. I kept the memories and moved on. Being in the college environment I stumbled on to many a wing place and tried Tabasco sauce. I quickly got use to the heat and wanted something else. I remember that Dave’s salsa my sister brought home and I did my research and of course learned about the habanero pepper. Ever since then it has been one hell of a ride for the last 18 months.

Besides all this chili head stuff I am a huge 80s fan, (I have a myspace site that serves as an archive for the 1985 Warner Bros. hit movie, “The Goonies”. (See below for the link) I am also into extreme weather. I chase hurricanes every now and then. I was in the eye of Hurricane Katrina, at Waveland, MS. I am a nationally ranked chess expert as well. I use to compete in tournaments but have now given it up.

goonienick