Chilies, Chilies Everywhere

It wasn't my decision, honestly. In fact, I'm not really into "spicy" foods, preferring well balanced flavors over the tongue and gums burning of jalapeno, ghost and habanero peppers. However, I was invited down to the Pueblo, CO Chili  Pepper Festival and having never been, I decided it would be fun to go for an afternoon.

While chili peppers aren't necessarily my thing, I do love doing experiences that are outside my comfort zone. Besides, I thought if I brought my camera I could get some good cultural shots of the festival to share with the world on Blogger and Google+.

But this morning didn't work out the way we'd planned. My friend sent me a message after 9AM citing her alarm clock didn't go off and she was running later. That was fine by me since I didn't even set an alarm, just trusting that I would awake far earlier than she. She asked me if dogs could go tot he festival.

How the heck would I know? I've never been there.

So, we each took turns looking online for info on whether dogs were welcome. Since the original plan was to head down to Pueblo (a roughly two hour drive) spend a couple of hours at the fest and then take the long way back through the mountains for photo opportunities, neither of us made plans to do anything with our dogs while we were gone. We really thought we'd bring them along.

Then my friend decided there was too much of a chance of rain in the mountains to make driving through them worth while. She knows as well as I do that cloudy conditions and rain can sometimes improve chances for photo opportunities, but she was driving and it was her "fest" that I was invited to attend. In the end, we decided not to go do any of the plans for the day.

The Aisles at Costco

Instead, we decided to go to Costco. Don't get me wrong, I love Costco, but I can go to Costco any day of the week, I don't need to burn a Sunday just to go there. On the way to Costco there was a chili stand on the side of the road. It's been there for a few weeks now, but neither of us have stopped there before today. Me, because I really don't care about chilies that much and her because, well, I don't know.

 So we stop at the chili pepper stand. I really do like these roadside stands for shopping. Many times you're buying directly from the manufacturer, much like a farmer's market, bypassing the cost-raising expenses of middle-men and you get to sample flavors, meet the owners and watch as the item, or food, is made right in front of you.

We parked right up front and walked into the pop-up tent. Pumpkins and peppers were everywhere. Baskets and bags full of red and green peppers of some sort, jams, jellies and even something called "cherry juice." Up front was a table with various salsas spread out with tortilla chips for taste testing and when we wanted to try something that wasn't already out there one of the stand's workers opened up a jar and let us take a bite. Luckily my friend wanted to buy it so they just gave us the jar, but when was the last time the giant supermarket chain opened a package so you could try it before buying? Sure Costco has their tasters and even some of the supermarkets in the area will let you taste their deli offerings, but will they open a jar of jam or a bag of potato chips for your taste buds?

 

 

 While I didn't purchase anything (again, not my scene) my friend did spend a bit of money there. We did spend quite a but longer there than I thought we would, but -- again, this is new to me -- if you buy chili peppers, apparently they roast them right then and there for you in some giant fire roasting contraption straight out of Mad Max.

I haven't checked yet, but apparently there are over 500 chili pepper recipes at their website: roastedchili.com.