Monday Greetings 11/8/10

Good Monday Morning All,

Hope you all had a great weekend. The weather on the island continues to get a little colder although we've had a really nice run of sun breaks.  We typically only get about 1/3 of the rain that Seattle does and a lot of people don't know that about the islands which make it a pretty nice place to visit any time of year.  Business is a little slow but we expect that this time of year. While our internet sales continue to be brisk, we are signing up more and more people up for the Hot Sauce of the Month Club.  This weekend was full of activities as our little community offers a wide variety of things to do.  On Saturday night we went to a play at the Legion called "Only a Ridgeline Away" about 2 long time Vietnam War veterans and their lifelong camaraderie.  It was very moving evoking many emotions throughout.  One of the lead characters, Capt. Michael Mooney was played by Genie's boss, Mr. Anthony Vivenzio (on the left in the picture)  and really saw an incredible acting job done by the entire cast and crew. The plans are to take this production on a national tour and we highly recommend it if you get the chance to see it. Check out the write up below.

Playwright and Friday Harbor resident Miguel Herbert describes Only a Ridgeline Away as "a cross between Grumpy Old Men and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. It is my goal, through this play, to give audience members a look at the astounding level of friendship experienced among men who have served together in combat."

  The principal characters, Matt Slater and Michael T. Mooney, are Vietnam combat veterans and lifelong best friends. While in their 50s they made a pact: when they needed to transition into a care facility, they would be together. The time has come.

Herbert says the play is full of both drama and plenty of zany antics. “The one thing that kept me from going bonkers in Vietnam was my three close friends. Two of us were fortunate enough to make it home. It is my goal, through this stage play, to give audience members a look at the astounding level of friendship experienced among men who have served together in combat.”

Have a good week and as always we love hearing from you guys.

Eddie & Genie Williams

Another Fantastic Recipe Idea

Ed came up with this one the other night and it was sooooooo good, I ended up using the sauce the next night on homemade pizza's. Yes, Ed even made the dough from scratch and I must say they were the yummiest pizza's we ever ate.

Anyway, Ed dreamed up a twist on Chicken Cacciatore and we have to share it.  You'll see it on the website soon too!

Ingredients (not exaxt, you can improvise)

3-4 skin on chicken breasts (he left the skin on for crispy browning. Thighs work well too)

1/2 bottle Ring of Fire Garden Fresh Chili Sauce (Yep, we got it!)
1/4 cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
2 Tbsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3-4 cloves of garlic minced (I love using my Magic Bullet to chop the garlic)
1 Onion - Diced (We used a white onion for a mellow flavor)
1 Red Bell Pepper - Cut into thin slices
1 Green Bell Pepper - Cut into thin slices
Wondra (or flour for thickening)

Heat canola or vegetable oil until hot and carefully add chicken and sear both sides until browned. Remove chicken, place on a place with paper towels to absorb oil and keep in warm oven while preparing sauce.

Heat EVOO until hot and add garlic, onions and peppers cook until warmed through but still crunchy.  Add Ring of Fire Garden Fresh Chili Sauce and heat slowly until all ingredients are incorporated.  Sauce will be thin so you you can thicken it at this point.

Ed served the chicken on angel hair pasta and put the sauce over it and boy it was yummy.  We made some garlic bread to sop up all the sauce and it sure was tasty.   I loved the sauce so much that I made Ed make up some pizza dough the next night and used this sauce on the pizza's with more peppers/sausage and pepperoni and plenty of cheese of course.  Enjoy!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween is here and you always know if for sure with the annual parade down Spring Street in downtown Friday Harbor. The school kids treat us to a parade to show off their costumes although it's not just for the kids. Kids of all ages dress up and the creativity this year was outstanding. The sun shone brightly for the kids and a good time was had by all. Check out a few pic's. (Courtesy of the San Juan Islander which has 6 pages of photos if you want to view just follow this link: The San Juan Islander )

We're going to close the store tomorrow (Halloween) for 1 day for the first time in over a year. We need a day after a busy summer to catch up on some football, the world series and the food that goes with it. In our next post we'll tell you about the wonderful twist on a recipe Ed created using the Ring of Fire product Garden Fresh. Fabuloso! We'll get that up on the blog in the next couple of days. In the meantime, have a safe and happy Halloween.

OK, OK, Here's the recipe

Well yesterday I got inundated with requests for the Po' Boy recipe so here you go.

Melinda's Amarillo Smoked Sausage Po' Boys with Sweet Peppers, Onions and Mango Mayonnaise.

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 links of smoked sausage (6-10 inches) 
• 1/2 cup Melinda's Amarillo Mustard Hot Sauce 
• 1 red, 1 yellow and 1 orange bell pepper 
• 1 purple onion
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1 loaf French Bread 

Mango Mayo:

• 3 heaping tablespons of mayo
• 2 tbsp of Melinda's Mango Hot Sauce

Just whisk these 2 ingredients and you've got a fabulous mango mayo.

DIRECTIONS: 
Cut peppers in quarters, take out core and seeds.  Cut onion in thick rings for the grill.
Light grill to high heat.  Using a basting brush, put a light coating of oil on peppers and onions and place on grill.  Put sausage links on grill and baste with Melinda's Amarillo Mustard hot sauce frequently.  Be sure not to leave peppers on grill too long.  You want them seared and cooked but not too soft.  Remove peppers and slice into strips. Allow onion to cook longer than peppers.  remove onions and also slice into strips.

Lightly saute grilled onions and peppers with 1 tbsp. butter in saute pan for 2 minutes over med-high heat.  Warm French bread and cut into 6 to 8 inch sections for Po' Boy sandwiches.  Put Mango Mayo on bread and layer with sausage and peppers to finish off this masterpiece!

October 22nd Friday Greetings

TGIF which doesn't mean much to us but with Friday upon us it brings the hope of a good weekend of island visitors. Tonight is the local homecoming game and at 3:30 this afternoon the high school will hold it's annual parade through town. If you've never seen this, it's a ball. Very small town. Last year they were all dancing to Thriller and it was quite the show.

Yesterday we got our October shipments of The Hot Sauce of the Month Club out in the mail and this little club has grown so big it takes up most of the store when we're packing it up. 2 of our customers saw what we were doing and joined up right then and there. The post office always welcomes Ed when he shows up with the many boxes we send out. He even has to deliver them to the back delivery dock. This month I included a recipe for a sausage Po' Boy using Melinda's Amarillo Mustard Hot Sauce. This is such a great sauce and I love it on Bratwurst.  It's even tasty on our Saturday morning sausage breakfast sandwich's from Cousin Vinny's next door.  (Now I'm hungry).

As we head into the holiday's we wish you all warm and healthy wishes with your families. We realize times are very hard for a lot of people right now but we can't help but feel we're on the road to better times.  After all we are a nation of hope and if we work together, we can achieve anything. No matter what your political views are, we hope each and every eligible voter does their duty on November 2nd.

There's a storm a brewin' for Sunday here in the PNW so batten down the hatches and eat more hot sauce! Variety is the spice of life!

All The Best,
Eddie & Genie

October has arrived!

Good Tuesday Morning,

Hope you all had a great weekend and as we head into the land of longer nights, shorter (seeming) days and towards the holidays (can you believe we're already talking holidays) family, food and home becomes the focus of life. We really enjoy this time of year as the World Series is almost upon us, the pumpkins are in the stores, football is getting interesting and we seem to be more thankful and thoughtful for our friends and family. The shop is still open 7 days a week so if you're making a trip to the island, please be sure to put us on your to-do list for a visit. We have a lot of new products arriving this week and will be getting more giftware and housewares in for the holiday season. Be sure to check out our newly designed T-shirts too!
We are also offering a discount for orders on our website. Just type in the code; SJHS1110 from now through the end of November to receive $5.00 off ANY order.

Weekends are still quite busy and we had to share this recent photo of some of our visitors. So much fun! Stay healthy and well this fall and keep eating hot sauce to avoid catching a cold (yes, it works). We can't promise you'll never get a cold again, but we haven't had a cold in a very long time.

Calling All Recipes and Thrifty Holiday Ideas

Wednesday Greetings,

Once again we want to throw it out there that we would love for our fellow Chiliheads to send us recipes for products you have used from our store.  We are in the process of putting together a SJ Hot Shop book of recipes and we want to include our great customers.  We will give you credit for the recipe so be sure to include your hometown and state with each submission. 

We are also offering a pre-holiday savings for people ordering off our website. From now through the end of November just type in SJHS1110 in the redemption code at checkout and receive $5.00 off your order.  There are no minimums and you can use it from now through the end of November. 

Now, for economical holiday gifts, check out our Hot Sauce of the Month Club on our website at www.sanjuanhotshop.com . You can purchase 1 month / 3 month / 6 month and 12 month subscriptions.  You, or the recipient of your gift, will receive 2 quality hot sauces each month (we mix it up too, sometimes we throw in a rub, pepper jelly, bbq sauce, etc.) along with recipe ideas and once a quarter we send out our newsletter full of health information, recipe ideas, what's going on on the island and any other fun facts we discover along the way. Ed even includes an editorial in each issue. 

Another fun gift is our personalized labels we put on 5 sauces with a variety of heat levels to choose from.  Just send us a high quality .jpg photo via e-mail and include a caption. We will create the label and send you a proof to make sure it's what you want. Then we slap it on your choice of 5 different hot sauces and ship it to you (or them directly).  We have holiday themes, birthday themes, reunion themes, wedding themes, and anything else you can think of. This is truly a customized label. Our son just recently got married and each person attending the wedding left with a quality bottle of hot sauce with their customized label to commemorate the occasion.  The info. is also available on our website or you can feel free to call us or e-mail us with any questions. 

Our newly designed t-shirts have arrived and they are a huge hit. We are already in the process of ordering a 2nd round as they are flying off the shelves. You can view a picture of them on our website too!

As always, all information is available on our website or you can always feel free to call us or e-mail us. 

www.sanjuanhotshop.com

hotshop@rockisland.com