Hot stuff

This isn't an exciting image I'm afraid, but it is quite exciting for me because this red chili here is the first one off this plant that I have cooked with. My friend grew the plant from seed and then handed it over to me when it was about 10cm tall. It grew but never flowered and went through various stages of looking yellow, spindly, lush and green, nearly dead etc...

Then a few months ago when I was about to give up and throw it out it started to flower. Now it is bumper full of green chilies and I was so excited when this one started turning red. It went into tonight's dinner which was some rather appalling variation on coq au van, basically consisting of the remaining contents of my fridge mixed up with a can of chopped tomatoes. It would give Delia a heart attack with it's utter lack of elegance. But it is tasty, the chili has given it a nice kick and I've had a good, nutritious meal.