Damir Karakaš and his wife brought some pepper powder and a bunch of peppers for me from Slavonia, where they live. They looked just right for my hot sauce. “Be careful with them,” they told me without cracking a smile, “because they are quite hot.” So, how hot are they? I cut the peppers and put them into my sauce two days ago, but I am still suffering every time I put in my contact lenses in the morning and take them out in the evening. Although I have washed my hands at least twenty times in the meanwhile, the sting is still there this morning. It was much more painful yesterday morning, though. That is how hot peppers from Slavonia actually are. My next-door neighbors from Motovun were not kidding around. Besides, Damir is an engineer of agronomy, and peppers are one of his professional specialties. They are used with a wide variety of cured meat products typical of Slavonia, all of which are deliciously hot.