Habaneros: spicy or no?

Two nights ago, Ben and I had dinner then he headed to hockey, so I had a free evening. I decided to prep a recipe for the next day, because half the time during the week, I get home and just can't face making an entire meal. The name of the recipe is "Habanero Chicken Over a Bed of Pasta." I have never cooked with habaneros, but of course I know in theory that they are one of the hottest peppers out there. I say "in theory," because for some reason I wasn't all that wary about their spiciness. There are times when I've worn gloves just to cut jalapenos because sometimes the spice can really sting if it gets under your nails, but these peppers just looked so cute. "These peppers won't hurt me" I thought as I cut them into small pieces.

Well, the chopping went fine, I put the chicken in a bowl with lime juice, salt, and pepper, and then put the onions, peppers, and other spices into tupperware for the next day. I proceeded to wash my hands, then clean up a bit (meaning my hands came in contact with some anti-germ soaps). Then I worked out and sweated up a storm. After that, I took a shower. When I took my contacts out at the end of the evening, I noticed a slight stinging, but figured it would be fine after they marinated over night.

Ok, well the next morning, I started my morning routine, and started putting my contacts in. I rubbed one of my contacts around on my palm, then gave it a rinse and held it to my eye. As soon as it made contact...I knew I'd made a big mistake. At first I thought the stinging might subside. As embarrassing as it is to admit, I actually have experience with stinging contacts from jalapenos, which sting for a bit but then your eyes tear up and it's ok. But as the burning pain did not subside and I felt like my eye was a boiling pit of tar, I knew things weren't going to be ok. I forced my eye open, and stuck my fingers in which were STILL SPICY from the night before.

I realized that these contacts might be a lost cause, and my hands were definitely not helping me out, so I headed over to my office and grabbed some disposable latex gloves that I use for dying my hair. I got out two brand-new contacts, then did my best to rinse off all the preserving chemicals they came in. I noticed that the latex gloves actually extend much further than my fingers and therefore aren't very good for precision work. Finally, I got the new contacts in my eyes, and looked at the clock: this part of my morning ate up 20 min. But the important thing was: I could see.

So that's the end of my harrowing story of spicy fingers. Later, I realized the irony that the way I figured out that habaneros are spicier than jalapenos...is by testing them out on my eyeballs.