Feel the burn!

Happy Chinese New Year! To celebrate the year of the ox, Rachel and I decided to cook something Chinese for dinner tonight. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't handle sweetened meat very well...so we went for something a little spicy instead.

I found some shrimp in the freezer and went about googling a recipe for kung pao shrimp. No sweat. I even had most everything we needed, or at least things I could substitute. Chili paste? Nope, but I have some chili powder that I got when I went to the Middle East last year. Minced ginger? Hmm...could I substitute the powdered stuff? Well I did.

I got to work on marinating and frying and mixing and making rice...I was feeling pretty good about it. I didn't want to taste the sauce before I cooked it because it was pretty potent, so I tried a little taste off the spoon after I had already coated all the shrimp and was about ready to eat it. Wow...ba-zing! But not bad, I thought.

So I loaded my plate up, took a bite and my mouth was hit with fire. I mean, the spices tasted good...just REALLY hot. I guess I added too much chili powder...and I think the stuff from Abu Dhabi might carry a bigger punch than the normal stuff. I kept trying to put a ton of rice with each bite and drink lots of milk. After my nose started running like crazy (that hot stuff will clear out your sinuses for sure!) and my mouth felt like someone had started setting off fireworks in it, I decided it just wasn't worth it. And so I bring to you my DINNER FAIL.

This is what I couldn't bring myself to finish, no matter how famished I was. Rachel couldn't make it through all of hers either. :( Teach me to be adventurous in the kitchen...