This book was born

about eight years ago in Berkeley at the home of an Anglican priest.

Father Green and his family hosted "Sunday Supper" every week for

years. It was a potluck communion of friendship for Christian and

non-Christian alike. One Sunday, Father Green s contribution was a

dish that was most definitely above and beyond the call of duty as far

as most people s capsicum tolerance was concerned. To his great joy

and delight, there were about six of us who came back for bowl after

fiery bowl of the delightful pottage, bypassing the other more

traditional potluck contributions of lasagna, tuna and cream of

mushroom soup casserole, macaroni salad, and pineapple upside-

down cake.

Through Father Green s creativity, those of us sharing a love of

things robust found each other. We decided to make a pilgrimage to

the, at that time, almost unknown Hunan Restaurant in San

Francisco. That proved so successful that we arranged to get

together for a potluck of nothing but hot, hot, foods. Twelve people

participated in that first extravaganza. The contributio~is ranged

from chili to ceviche. Jars of kim chee andjalapefio pepper jelly w~re

present as just a little something extra to nibble on.