I just ate the spiciest food I’ve ever eaten. Pad Yee Ra is a mouth searing blend of basil, cumin, red chilies and whole bouquets of green peppercorns. The neutral ingredients are green beans and meat. The spice combination of this dish was markedly different from the runner up: Som Tam spicy green papaya salad.

In other news, I just got off another international call to my insurance agent to make sure my claim from six months ago is still moving towards some type of settlement. This has been an ordeal to say the least. I knew it would be when the lady who crashed into me went into hiding somewhere in Florida. If I were to write a book about all of the hurdles I’ve gone through over the months, it may look like this:

I have had to do a lot of work on my part to make sure that the two massive organizations communicate with each other and that my claim isn’t lost to the ages. While this whole process has been frustrating, I have learned one important lesson: Don’t get into car accidents. At least I am lucky that there is no medical claim or personal injury to make this whole experience truly painful.

If you are in Florida and meet someone named Terry Williams, be creative.