In certain countries the spice level varies and probably for a good reason. Whenever I go somewhere and the food is spicy I follow the flow. This trip I watched my father-in-law sweat when he followed suit and his eyebrows were dripping.

For those of you who eat spice, it is a well-known fact the more the spicy, the more the palate is conditioned and can take more. This means that if you eat hot foods daily, you become accustomed to hot and you can move up the ladder, just what I did this trip.

People adore spicy anything but as we all know, the best foods are pure and unadulterated. I guess that’s the reason I prefer Japanese cuisine. You may know that when you order a speak aux Poivre, it is going to be a cut that’s not prime. Anytime you find a spicy dish mixed with a premium product, watch out.

The dish pictured is a spicy soup, usually served with rice noodles, or in this case with sticky rice cakes, dried under the sun, you lay them into the sauce as you would with a crouton. This is all about taste and texture, hot and spicy can be either in a cold or warm dish.