the heat is on

Get ready for a summertime stream of consciousness.

"The heat," firstly refers to competitive chile pepper eaters, like Peach Moore, pictured below at the Ohio Chile Pepper Festival in 2001.


This is a still from a DVD (converted from a home video) that Peach sent me as I was reporting this piece (click) for Saveur. She's wearing a chile pepper-inspired outfit a friend made for her. Muy cute, no? I especially like the guy sweating next to her and the kids looking on, flabbergasted, as Peach keeps her cool.

image of Carl's from stltoday.com

I also recently reported a roundup of burgers (click) that the Saveurites discovered as they reported the magazine's latest issue.

Had it included my own nostalgic favorites, you might have read about steakburgers at Steak 'n Shake after back-to-school shopping with mom at the St. Louis Galleria (Mom was partial to the patty melt), frosty rootbeers from the keg and paper-plated burgers at Carl's Drive-In in Richmond Heights, MO--also with Mom, post-hiking hamburgers at the Habit in Santa Barbara, CA and more recently, Friday night burgers and beers with the boys at the Corner Bistro in NYC's West Village.

Imagine researching this piece around lunchtime. Not easy.

Oh! And, speaking of St. Louis, and the heat being on...check out this article my old schoolmate Ben Hochman wrote about the heart and soul of Cardinal baseball. (click.) "The Heat is On!" was a great Cardinal theme song of my childhood--I had a bumper sticker with it on my bedroom door for years. And Ben is totally right. To any of us St. Louis kids, Jack Buck's voice was nothing short of a lullaby. Well done, Ben. But one question...what about Willie McGee?