Red hot chili peppers... not the music, the food.

I was at the Safeway deli being super lazy about making a lunch for myself and the kids. While they're home during the summer, it feels like all I ever do is try to keep them fed. The Safeway deli has some Chinese food which perhaps should be in quotes. The "Chinese food" is barely passable but Lil't loves their noodles and even has requested them for her birthday in the past.

Ahead of me in line was an elderly couple, I'm assuming a husband and wife. He was pointing out that there were big red chili peppers in the General Tso's chicken. Oh, I mean, "General Tso's chicken." Anyway, he wanted to warn me. He was cute in that way men switch to being cute after they stop being threatening. Maybe that's not the right word. Maybe sexually viable?  I'm not sure if I'm stating that correctly. There is an evolution to men.  They're little boys and are cute. Then, like all people, go through puberty and then become sexual beings eschewing being cute for being handsome, sexy, etc. But at some point, maybe when they're in their 80's, they become cute again. Because as a woman, they're not on my radar to beware of them anymore. That has little to do with their self perception and more to do with mine. He'd ceased to be a threat. I knew he wouldn't be hitting on me or flirting with me. I could just chat and not be on the defensive.

Anyway, when he started warning me about those big red chili peppers, his wife rolled her eyes and started shopping for other items. I guess she's accustomed to her social butterfly of a husband.

"You better be careful of those big red peppers. They're super hot." He looked at me, my brown skin and slanted eyes. "Where are you from?"

I told him that I was from Hawaii.

He said, "When I was in Thailand, they have these tiny little peppers. The gal asked me if I wanted the mild or hot curry. I told her mild because I don't really like all that spice," pause for effect. "Those mild chili peppers gave me blisters all around my mouth!"

I said, "In Hawaii there are these small little red peppers that my dad used to grow in the back yard. Those are so hot that they'll make your hair fall out."

"I must have eaten some!" He pulled off his baseball cap to reveal his shiny pate.

Seriously cute.