Happy Hot Sauce Easter from Mama’s Fire

Hello all, I do hope your Easter was a good one.  We had fun at Grandpa’s house.  We ate ham as might be expected but the ham was so big he had to cut it in half with a sawzall.  I had never seen that done before.  It worked like a charm, of course we cleaned the blade before the cut was made.  Here is grandpa Bert in action.

Cutting the big ham, it was tasty indeed.

We have a family tradition that has formed around Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce. As you know with Easter comes eggs, a lot of hard boiled eggs.  To take care of these eggs, in a tasty way we, make deviled eggs this is a link to a good recipe but personally I would make one change.  Instead of the Tabasco sauce would use Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce.  As we eat them together watching the children playing with their toys; we pour just a little Tibetan hot sauce on each egg.   They are fantastic this way.  I hope you enjoy this family tradition as much as we have!

Sacred ingredients…Enlightened taste

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My sister’s Momo recipe

Jesse here once again.  So, I shared with you earlier about our momo party and the dipping sauce we make for the momos.  My sister read the blog and was kind enough to share her recipe for momos.  It is very good and a very easy recipe, which 0f course makes the party that much more fun.

Here it is in her own words:

“I make momo’s by smell… Don’t know how to give a recipe… For the filling I use 1 lb ground Pork, equal parts fresh ginger and garlic 2-3 tablespoons, 1 small bunch green onions chopped and soy sauce to taste (I unsually add enough to smell it once everything is mixed together).  Mix everything by squishing through fingers.  Must have family and friends to make momo’s.  Buy dumpling/pot sticker wraps at grocer and/or make your own using flour, water and salt.”

Jesse here again, I buy the wraps, but I am a bit lazy by nature. Back to the recipe:

“Put a small spoon full of meat mix into wrap, wet one side edge of wrap and press together to make half circle dumpling.  Put in steamer for ten-fifteen minutes, until wrap becomes soft and somewhat translucent.  Cut one momo in half to assure pork is cooked all the way through and dip in Mama’s Fire Traditional Hot Sauce!”

My sister after making many momos, what a feast!

My first attempts at marketing, Seattle, WA

So, tonight I just finished canning a batch of the Tibetan hot sauce the way I used to make it and it made me think of my first marketing attempt in Seattle, WA.  I was just starting out. I had just moved from making the hot sauce my way in a little restaurant in Salem, Oregon called the Off Center Cafe into a cannery called Oregon Hill Farms.  I had the cannery make these two ounce bottles of hot sauce.  Cute little jam jars with labels I made by hand and then scanned into my home computer.  Here is the picture I put on the caps:

Cool huh?  Well anyway, I decided that I was going to send these jars out into the world. I sent jars to Los Angles, Boulder, San Francisco and New York.  I was visiting Seattle with some of my close friends.  I am a man who loves to trust auspicious coincidence, so I took 50 jars to pass out at Pikes Place Market on our Seattle adventure.  This I did and my wife took pictures.

Me setting up.

So, I get there and Pikes Place is a big market with a lot of people, I just jumped in and started handing out these little bottles of Tibetan hot sauce.

Me handing out the samples. You can see them next to me.

Someone taking a sample, that was a cool feeling.

Then I realized where I was standing.  I found myself set up right in front of the famous fish throwers at the market.  One of them noticed me and came out to talk with me.

Holy crap, he is talking with me.

Initially, I thought I was in trouble. I had no permission to be doing what I was doing. But, he was a really cool guy.  We talked, he told me about throwing fish and I told him about hot sauce.  I gave him one of my stickers (you can see it in the picture, its the blurry circle on his apron) and a sample of Mama’s Fire Tibetan hot sauce.  When he took the sample, it was an incredible feeling of being accepted by the city.  You can see in the picture, it was amazing.

We had fun, he put my oceans of bodhi sticker on his apron.

Something just as cool and so I am spreading the word, is that Mama’s Fire Gourmet Sauce is now for sale in Seattle at Madison Market – now and was Central Coop, these guys have really believed in me.  And, as of three months ago, three Whole Foods Stores Interbay,Roosevelt Square and Westlake.

After all that we went to the Space Needle. Here was our final view of Seattle that day.

 Sacred Ingredients…Enlightened taste

What an honor mom

Hi, Folks!  Jesse’s mom here!

Last night the phone rang.  I was watching TV and Jesse’s number streamed across the bottom of the screen.  When I picked up, I said “Hello” repeatedly and no one  spoke.  Instead I heard the sounds of Jesse’s household – the sweet voice of Kayden, Jesse’s youngest, asking for something; warm adult voices answering back and chatting back and forth; the rattle of cookware; a cartoon video playing in the background; someone talking to the dog.  Clearly, Kayden had gotten hold of his dad’s phone and randomly pushed the button that dialed my house.  Once I figured out what was happening, I was delighted.  It reminded me of sitting at Jesse’s kitchen table and enjoying the atmosphere of that happy house.

Here in Colorado the trees are budding. The air is clear and bright and the mountains are etched against the sky.  Pretty soon it will be time for outdoor cooking.  Mama’s Fire time! I can just see Jesse standing by the old gas grill and wielding the gleaming tools given him by as a birthday present last year by father-in-law Bert.

I hope that I can sit out with Jesse and his  family on their patio under the grape arbor once again! When I first saw the arbor, I was amazed by the many perfect bunches of purple grapes hanging there.  I exclaimed on this and Leeann gently told me that they were actually a string  of lights! Beautifully done, Leeann, as always!

May Your Spring be Sweet and Bountiful!

Love From Mama’s Fire Mama #1

Shiva Pit

This is for my friend Max who is a great friend and Dharma brother.  This is a bit of inside sharing but I thought you would all love this utube, it blew me away.

My friend may your journey tonight to the saint have gone well. It was cool sharing the BBQ with you.  And it was fun having Dave and Jessica there to share the red chicken and the Santa Fe steak.  Thank you for the tunes.  The marinade, just add one beer.

I hope you all enjoy the uptube from the night of the Shiva tattoo:

Oceans of Kindness

Sacred Ingredients…Enlightened taste

News from Mama’s Fire Mama #1

Hello, All!

Jesse’s story about his Aunt buying Mama’s Fire for the first time touched my heart.  Jesse’s paternal grandmother Barbara died recently.  She lived with his Aunt and was indeed a great cook. It is interesting to contemplate family traditions over time.  Just yesterday, I was in Boulder’s Ideal Market, now owned by Whole Foods.

When Jesse and his siblings were children, they rode in my shopping cart up and down those isles.  The carts are different now and the isles reconfigured, but the ritual of perusing the shelves hasn’t changed. It thrilled me to see Mama’s Fire BBQ sauce right there in our store.  That pretty label stood out and I couldn’t resist buying another bottle in honor of my son and all the generations of generous cooks backwards and forwards through time. May all families be blessed with goodness and plenty forever!

Love from Mama’s Fire Mama #1

Finding the Sauce in Oregon

We make the sauce right here in Oregon

So tonight, I got a call from my Aunt, you see my family on my father’s side are Oregonians for generations.  A mixed breed of tough sailors and doctors.  Odd but true.  She shared with me recently that we all love to cook. This seems to explain my venture into the world of sauces.

Tonight, she shared with me her experience of going to her local Whole Foods and purchasing Mama’s Fire hot sauce and BBQ sauce for the very first time.  She said that her and Loran both went in and got sauce and as soon as they got to the car, they had opened the bottle and were eating it with chips.  They reported that they loved the sauce.  My aunts final comment on her voice message was, “I wanted to let you know that two of your family members like the sauce!” It was a great compliment and it inspired me to share.

For those of you in Oregon who have yet to try Mama’s Fire, the sauce is now on the shelves of all of the Whole Foods Markets in Oregon.  It can be found in Eugene at the Kiva Market, Capella Market, and Newman’s Fish Market.  It is also at the Ashland Coop and the Astoria Coop and can be found on highway 101 at Bear Creek Artichokes a small but fantastic road side fruit stand.  In Portland, you can find Mama’s Fire at both Food Front Coops and it can even be found in Oregon’s capital at Life Source Natural Foods.

Ah, the beauty of Oregon

Good night all and thank you once again for your support.