Lately, I have been seeing many articles in food magazines highlighting shishito peppers, but I have never tried them before. What are these things? When I finally found some at the farmers market, I got quite excited. I asked the kind vendor at Country Rhodes Family Farm for some cooking tips on the peppers, and guess what? She gave me a handful to try for free! Major score. Of course, I had to write a post that featured these beauties. After doing a bit more research on shishito peppers, I have come to realize that the green varieties are much more common than the red ones. That’s a shame, because I definitely prefer the red ones as they are sweeter. I was told to grill the peppers with olive oil until they blister and season them with a bit of salt to them once they’re done. So simple, yet so delicious! Another thing I learned this weekend is that running hills sucks, big time. The half-marathon in San Francisco is going to feature a lot of hills, so I thought it would only be prudent to integrate a bit of hill work to my running routine. Friends, I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it. My calves were dying after one tiny hill (for SF standards). How am I going to handle 13.1 miles of this madness? Yikes! At this point, my only goal is to run the entire course. I don’t care if I do so at a snail’s pace. Finally, most of you already know that I have a weakness for chocolate, but last week, things got a bit out of hand. I was one of many guests who were invited to the opening party of a new See’s Candies location on Market Street in San Francisco. It was a dream come true. My mother was a seasonal worker for See’s as a candy wrapper (think I Love Lucy), so I have been well acquainted with their delicious chocolates for many years now. But look at me, I’m behind the counter! I asked whether they refrigerated their chocolate at all, and the answer was a resounding “no.” They do store their chocolates in a temperature-controlled room, but refrigeration impairs the quality of the chocolate. Apparently, their turnaround on the chocolate is so quick that they never need to worry about their chocolates going beyond their shelf life. Every guest at the event got to taste any piece of chocolate in the store. Do you know how dangerous that is for me?! I have so many favorites. On top of that, we all left with a 1-pound box of candy, a box of peanut brittle, and a box of lollipops. I have already polished off half of the chocolates and peanut brittle. #noregrets This week, I’ll need to lay off the sweets just a tad. What do you think?
