Hot, hot, hot

It's the time of the chilli. Today was the start of the annual Chilli Fiesta at West Dean, near Chichester. This was an excuse for the neighbours to form a posse and head for the Downs.
We got there early and grabbed a coffee before splitting up and starting to examine all of the stalls and offerings. It goes without saying that there was every conceivable chilli infused meat, chocolate, cheese, pickle, jam, chutney and sauce.
The Gorse Fox saw this as an opportunity and tried many of the offering on the circuit. The first that was worth noting was called "Five Finger Death Punch" made from King Naga and Moruga Scorpion chillies. This actually made sweat ooze from the pores beneath the eyes. Excellent. In fact, the Gorse Fox went back and bought a bottle. We continued the circuit and found others, found paintings, fabrics, and even jewellery.

We paused for lunch - all meeting up again in the main arena. A Flamenco dancer was in full stomp as we started but this was soon replaced by some belly dancers. Lunch was simple but tasty and each had the opportunity to select from the wide and diverse range of stalls.

Back on the circuit the Gorse Fox tried some chorizo that was meant to be spicy - but wasn't. He then found a chilli sauce called "God Slayer" (or similar). This was sensational. It was so hot that the Gorse Fox couldn't actually speak for a few minutes and got a bout of hiccoughs. He didn't buy any of this - he couldn't think of an occasion when it would get used.

After about 5 hours or so we all met up and headed home. A great day had been had by all.