Toah Nipi’s 2nd Annual Hot Ones Night 11.20.25
On Thursday, November 20th, Toah Nipi Christian Retreat Center hosted its 2nd Annual Hot Ones Night. The idea to torture yourself with increasingly hot wings alongside friends, all while answering progressively spicier questions, was the brainchild of Michael and Arianne Miller (pictured below).
Toah Nipi’s Executive Chef and Hot Wing Fryer, Arianne Miller, beside her husband and Hot Sauce Sommelier, Michael, at Toah Nipi’s 2nd Annual Hot Ones Night.
Arianne and Michael’s smiles (maybe smirks?) betray the cruel and unusual punishment they unleashed on more than 30 innocent people. These sauces were el grande caliente, folks.
You might be asking the question, “How was Hot Ones Night born at Toah Nipi”? Well, Arianne and Elisha (yours truly), Toah Nipi’s Associate Director, were dreaming about ways to bring our neighbors together. To build community through goofy events held around the dinner table. Pair that dream with Michael’s arsenal of collected and created hot sauces, and tear-activated memories of laughter and despair result!
Here was the lineup 👇
Size can be deceiving. Don’t be fooled, the small bottle on the end brought the final people standing to their knees. Don’t believe me? Just read the description here. Shoutout to Toah Nipi’s own, Josiah Niemela, for retrieving Purgatory from Pepper Palace in Sevierville, Tennessee. The lining of my stomach will never forgive you 😂
As someone who tried all 9 sauces (1 above is a refill), I can confirm it was all fun and games until Dave’s Insanity Sauce. A sauce that “Also strips waxed floors and removes driveway grease stains”! From that point forward, purgatory became an apt description of our collective experience.
So why the pain? Why do we allow the chicken (shoutout Dreamworks’ Chicken Run) to take revenge on us in such a demoralizing way? We embraced the pain and discomfort of this event to connect, laugh, and compete with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Hot Ones is the vehicle for hospitality. To delight in the beautiful space we steward at Toah Nipi, and the community with whom God has blessed us. We will do it again, and we hope you’ll join us, at next year’s Toah Nipi Hot Ones, Season 3 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥
Toah Nipi Hot Ones Season 2 Finishers. Bless these souls who endured 8 sauces, AND THEN PURGATORY, for nothing but a picture.
Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons
Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Peace and blessings, friends.
Elisha
