A Ghost Of Christmas Past...

[Boozy]

Maybe I'm really dense today (been sleeping VERY badly lately), but I'm not clear on the distinction between hay and straw.

Straw is essentially just hay that's been dried. Animals eat hay, but not straw (drying hay removes its nutrients). Straw is often used for bedding or litter for animals.
My dad's a farmer.

[Seanette]

Straw is essentially just hay that's been dried. Animals eat hay, but not straw (drying hay removes its nutrients). Straw is often used for bedding or litter for animals.
My dad's a farmer.

Thanks for the clarification.

[Jester]

Imagine how long it would take to do ANYTHING if we had to stop and tell customers exactly what they were buying. I am also sure that there would be some form to sign that would clear the seller of any lawsuit the SC would come up with for lack of information...my time at the grocery store would increase tenfold!

Actually, I have seen that. At a local business that deals in pepper sauces, there are some sauces that are so hot, to buy it or even SAMPLE it, you have to sign a waiver. This actually makes sense with some of them (my friend has one that is four times more powerful than MACE!), but it is still amusing. I imagine that hot sauce places in other locales deal with the same thing. That way, when someone gets the top of their skull blown off by that liquid fire, they can't sue.

On a side note, I actually had to sign one of those waivers. Myself, I like hot things, but not ridiculously hot things...but a friend of mine from out of town wanted a particular sauce, so I went and bought it and had it shipped to him, but to do that, I had to sign one of those waivers. It cracked me up.

Even more off topic, when we were getting ready at the hotel to open up the new restaurant, we as staff were sampling several hot sauces in order to decide which one(s) we would feature. Most of the staff is European. They were having trouble with several of the sauces, but one in particular was driving them nuts. They told me, try it...it's ridiculous. They all had tears in their eyes and were just losing it. I tried it.....tasted it thoughtfully....did not reach for a drink or anything, but rather another chip to try the sauce again...."Yeah, I can see where you guys might think that is a bit hot." They had forgotten, it seems, that I grew up three hours from the Mexican border.

[Primer]

"Yeah, I can see where you guys might think that is a bit hot." They had forgotten, it seems, that I grew up three hours from the Mexican border.

I grew up in Austin, TX, which is about 230 miles from the border. I was well into my late 20's before I could tolerate even plain old BLACK pepper on anything. I can now deal with almost anything up to Medium Pace picante sauce, but I'm still a wuss, overall.

[Tito]

Funny, I always thought it was the customer's own responsibility to know what they're buying. But I guess that's just me.

Oh, but didn't you know? Retail workers are supposed to be mindreaders! What's the matter with you?

[Jester]

I grew up in Austin, TX, which is about 230 miles from the border. I was well into my late 20's before I could tolerate even plain old BLACK pepper on anything. I can now deal with almost anything up to Medium Pace picante sauce, but I'm still a wuss, overall.

Heheheh....one of the amusing parts of the hot sauce tasting that I forgot to include was that one of the executive chefs from corporate was there. And he was from Texas. And he could not handle the hot sauces AT ALL. As in less than the Eastern Europeans. Being as I am a Zonie, and making fun of Texans is a bit of a hobby for me, I had loads of fun at this guy's expense. To his credit, he took it very good-naturedly. Which was good, as I was merciless.