Chilli sauce so hot it could kill

Blair Lazar has created a chilli sauce so hot that it could kill. In fact if you buy it you have to sign a disclaimer and he’s only releasing 999 crystal bottles of it. He describes it as “like having your tongue hit with a hammer… it hurts”. He named the sauce 16 million- after its rating on the scoville scale. You can buy it at extreme food: home of blairs death sauce

Fried grasshoppers anyone?

When I take people to Thailand we inevitably seek out some fried grass hoppers to try. Amazingly they taste ok… a bit like chips. Before you reach for a bucket, talking to one grasshopper vendor in Thailand she was disgusted that we eat raw oysters. Anyhow, I saw the site linked below that shows you the best insects to eat and methods of preparing them and points out that Insects are low in carbohydrates, high in protein along with fat and calories.
How to Use Insects as Food

The world’s first underwater restaurant

Murray emailed me this story about a 14 seater restaurant at the Hilton in the Maldives. This thing is underwater so you get to see the sort of fish that you’re eating. I’m guessing that it’s going to be a while before it pays for itself.Hospitality Net – Industry News – The World’s First All-glass Undersea Restaurant Opens

Pizza Portraits of the Royals

Apparently the Pizza Express restaurants share the same birthday as the queen. To celebrate they created pizza portraits of the royals. A great gimmick that was picked up by the UK national press and blogged around the world. However the website doesn’t seem to mention it or I couldn’t find it… and no blog on the website seems a shame because this stunt is gaining them a heap of publicity that they could easily capitalise on. You can read more about it in the link below or check out the website I linked to above.

Shiny Shiny: Pizza Portraits of the Royals

Gut reactions…

Saw this interesting snippet today. Apparently scientists have discovered your stomach and digestive tract are wrapped in nerves just like your brain nerves. And this is all plays part in our cognitive processes and gives a new twist on the old phrase ‘gut reaction’. Read more here Scientists discover ’second brain’ in the stomach

The Death Clock – When Am I Going To Die?

Here’s a sobering reminder of your mortality… find out when you’re going to die. When Peter (the owner of the Spirit House) entered his details it turns out he only has a few more years left. We’re now trying to prevent him from spending our inheritance.The Death Clock – When Am I Going To Die?

Axis of Evil Cookbook

You’re not about to be served any of these recipes at George Bush’s house. Really cool recipes from Iran, Iraq, North Korea and other places where women are oppressed and George wants to drop bombs.

You can download the booklet by right clicking the link and choosing ’save target/link as’. Check out the nthposition website for more info.
nthposition online magazine: Axis of Evil Cookbook

Katrina’s recipes from TVs ‘Escape with ET’

Katrina, one of our cooking school chefs, does a weekly cooking segment for the Spirit House on ‘Escape with ET’ which shows on channel 9. I found the recipes for each episode on ETs website and because it’s a fishing show, they’re all to do with fish. All these recipes are for the BBQ and are quick and easy. Here are just some of the recipes she’s presented on TV:
BARBECUED SPANISH MACKEREL WITH GRILLED TOMATOES AND AVOCADO SALSA
GRILLED FISH BURGER WITH SAMSON FISH
SPANISH MACKEREL WITH FRESH TOMATO AND ANCHOVY BUTTER
MOROCCAN SALAD OF BARBECUED NANNYGAI
MAHI MAHI WITH TOMATO AND CHICKPEA SAUCE
CHINESE STEAMED PEARL PERCH WITH GINGER AND SHALLOT
PARMESAN CRUMBED TREVALLY ‘FISH FINGERS’
PEPPER CRUSTED TUNA WITH AVOCADO AND PICKLED GINGER

A recipe for business success.

We often get asked by other want-to-be business owners what advice we can give them to create a successful business. I guess they come to us because Yandina is not exactly a tourist hub like Noosa so we must know something, or had a plan. Seth Godin has articulated one ingredient for business success very succinctly and eloquently:

Figure out what the always is, then do something else.

We could have built a room and put table and chairs in it and made it so you could walk from the car park straight into the restaurant (which is what restaurants always do)… but it didn’t turn out that way- and that’s part of what makes Spirit House unique.
Seth’s Blog: What’s the always?

Thai food quiz

If you think you know the difference between a som tum and a tom yum then play this quick Thai food quiz. Easy Thai Food Quiz quiz