Spicy Shirt

Chinese New Year is fast approaching. At the end of this month Spicy Horse will have it’s annual Chinese New Year company dinner. In China this is a time for eating, drinking, celebrating, and the giving of “Red Envelopes”. These envelopes are called “Hong Bao” symbolize blessings and good fortune. Red is itself a color of luck and fortune. With that in mind, we’ve created some cool Spicy Horse t-shirts:

Seems I might be wearing these a lot next year. The coming year is “The Year of the Rat” – which is my year (also my mother’s year!). During your year you’re supposed to wear an article of red clothing every day to bring luck. Maybe I can get some Spicy Horse underwear made too… Speaking of rats… some “rat” concept artwork from Grimm:

People are often curious about where the name “Spicy Horse” came from. As it turns out, the name makes more sense in Chinese than it does in English. The Chinese name is “Ma La Ma” – the first part of which “ma la” is a type of Chinese spice. The Chinese started cooking with ma la because it allowed them to eat spicier foods. Why? Because it acts like a topical anesthetic – numbing your mouth so you don’t feel the pain! When people ask me why I moved to China, I always tell them, “For the spicy food”. “Pass the hot sauce” was one of the first things I learned how to say in Chinese.

The second “ma” means “horse” – which is also part of my Chinese name “Ma Ji” (Lucky Horse). So we have “Ma La Ma”. When people see our sign/logo in China they always assume we’re a hot pot restaurant that actually serves horse meat. Speaking of… that sounds good for lunch.

And now you know!