Some Like It Hot

I have always enjoyed spicy foods - the hotter the better. I love that sweat you get when you eat really spicy Mexican or Chinese food.

One of my favorite spicy food stories is when I was eating at a hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant in Texas about five miles from the Mexican border. The waiter put down complimentary chips and three salsas - medium (no mild salsa of course), hot and really, really hot. The waiter warned us that most people couldn't handle the really hot stuff. I, of course, immediately dug into the really, really hot stuff. I made my way through one bowl and asked for seconds. The waiter looked a little stunned, but didn't say anything and brought me a second bowl. After awhile my dinner companions and I noticed that there seemed to be a parade of staff (including kitchen staff) trooping past our table. Our waiter delivered our entrees and asked (with a smirk) if we had noticed all the staff trooping past. We commented that it was hard to miss and he told us that everyone who worked there wanted to see the little white girl who could handle eating all that hot salsa! I think I was as red as the salsa for the rest of the night.

I bring this up because I have been relying on hot sauce (lots of it) to make a lot of the food on this diet more palatable, from the egg whites in the morning to many of the provided entrees. Tabasco is of course a standby, and I have also been using Scotch Bonnet Caribbean Pepper Sauce by Tropical Pepper Co and Dave's Gourmet Ultimate Insanity Hot Sauce. The Scotch Bonnet is very flavorful and adds a nice degree of heat. The Ultimate Insanity Hot Sauce lives up to its name - lots and lots of heat, though not a ton of flavor.

So, my question - do you have a favorite hot sauce and if so what is it and where can you get it?