Red Hot Chili Pepper

Lemon grass stems, tomatoes, small ultra red hot chillis, ginger, and some green leaves, are the "unsung heroes" of a classic spicy Asian cuisine otherwise known as Tom Yam. These are the ingredients which give the dish its own unique head-bursting-ly hot taste, leaving your face as red as Superman's underwear.

Unfortunately for them, they eventually become remnants, only fit for the thrash bin. However, if you happen to be with 5 other friends, and are hanging out at a coffee shop at 11 pm or so, and have nothing to do, and are desperately in need of a cheap thrill (okay that was a mouthful of words; let me take a breath or two), you can actually have some fun out of them.

Trust me, those ingredients do not merit a trip down your digestive system, for they look and probably taste like crap. My friend Azree though, feels it's worth it, since a certain other friend of mine, who apparently couldn't find a better way of spending 10 bucks, dared him to go through hell on earth by gulping everything down.

Azree took a moment to work out his strategy, mentally labelling each ingredient with a number to decide which one to eat first and which one to come next. As the rest of us watched this desperately-in-need-of-money friend of ours, he decided to start with the lemon grass stems. Those things look a bit like bean sprouts, but certainly don't taste like them. Bean sprouts aren't any tasty to start with. Armed with a spoon, he scooped up a couple and dumped them into his mouth. The expression on his face said it all. The rest of us sadistic people laughed. I knew Azree found it the least humorous at that time.

10 minutes or so later, he was done with the tomatoes, ginger, and green leaves. The amount of sweat he lost by that time was probably enough to fill up a whole bottle of Newater, and his face re-defined the colour red. He was now left face-to-face with the ultimate killer ingredient: the small chillis. The chillis may be small, but they're sure hot as hell. He took a deep breath, prayed to himself that it would not be his last, and devoured all 5 chillis. The rest of us were left in disbelief. We were stunned. Azree opened his mouth wide to prove his success. Unbelievable.

Azree is now 10 bucks richer. He is also probably suffering in the toilet. Oh well, the things you'd do for money.