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Hot Review, Literally: Firehouse Nuts

Mar 232010

As I write this, my mouth is on fire. Fire. I love spicy things. While pregnant, I only wanted jalapenos and buffalo sauce. On everything. But Firehouse Nuts are hotter than hot. Stop giggling at the name and stick with me.

I was given two bags of Firehouse Nuts from a friend of mine who loves to gift us fire related things. I ate the first bag a few months ago and have just decided to brave the second bag. While these were originally intended for TheBrothers, I can assure you that I would likely be a neglectful mother if I let them even touch these peanuts.

The ingredients don’t seem too terrible. Mention of paprika, spices and vinegar. Not too hot, right? What they don’t say is what is written on the front: smoked Habanero flavored peanuts. That’s an important thing to know. These aren’t just kind of spicy like a warm winter chili. These aren’t spicy like the salsa at your favorite restaurant. These are hot. Hot like that green hot sauce that your friend (or my dad) dares you to eat and then laughs when you gasp for air. Hot like fire in your mouth that can’t extinguished with coffee, milk, bread or any combination thereof.

But I keep eating them.

They have a good flavor. It’s just intense. I could see giving these as a gift to my Dad (another crazy spicy food lover) or as a firehouse gift, gag or otherwise. (The tin is decorated with fire trucks and could actually make a great fire gift.) I could see serving these with regular peanuts mixed in or on a table with a bunch of other peanuts… and a warning. Whatever the case, I wouldn’t give these to my kids. Or my grandmother. Or FireDad. He sweats when he eats spicy food and he might cause a flash flood with the temperature of these things.

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[Disclosure: I received these for free as a gift from a friend without promise of review. I reviewed these because they fit the niche of our blog.]

Five Year Fire Anniversary

fire life 11 Responses »

Feb 092010

Today my husband celebrates five years with the fire department. I celebrate with him, of course, because the past five years have been amazing. Busy. Kind of crazy. Sometimes very difficult. Maybe a bit tiresome and exhausting at times. But amazing.

He hasn’t changed much. I mean, look at him.

Five Years

He’s still a baby face as he was in this picture five years ago. I don’t think he’s been asked if he’s old enough to drive the fire truck recently but he still regularly gets carded. He may look the same but he’s changed a lot as well. In good ways… mostly.

The adjustment period of being on the fire department wasn’t always easy. Of course, we further complicated things by immediately conceiving and adding BigBrother to our family. And then we bought this house. And then we had LittleBrother. So from picture frame one to picture frame two in the above photo, a lot happened. Yet he never backed down from the challenge. I suppose that’s the firefighter in him.

I won’t say that I worry less when he runs off to a fire. We all know that I worry. I will say that I’ve gotten used to the worry which is entirely different than not worrying. Adjusting to the schedule was also a challenge, one that I think we both struggle with at times as well. I think, as I said above, we’ve struggled most while also undergoing other personal life changes and challenges. The sleep deprivation of the newborn phase doesn’t always work well with the sleep deprivation of firefighting or the sleep deprivation of solo parenting brought on by firefighting. But we made it through that… twice over.

For five years, I’ve sent him off to work every third day, knowing that he’ll be home twenty-four hours later. For five years, he’s come home twenty-four hours later and made the coffee, helping me get the day started for forty-eight hours together. For five years, we’ve learned more about the fire life and about each other. While this particular anniversary isn’t our anniversary (ours is in December), it’s still a milestone I think we both celebrate.

I mean, five years means three weeks of vacation instead of two. Celebration indeed.

I can’t wait to see what the next five, ten, fifteen and twenty years bring us with regard to fire stories, memories and family life. No more pregnant shots like this:

Pregnant with BigBrother