... but I know, it's my own damn fault. (A little Jimmy Buffett for you. Sorry about the "D" word, but it fits.)
So, I've just been little Suzy Homemaker lately, making my own red sauce, making apple sauce, drying red salsa peppers...
I hung the peppers up to dry and they were doing fine, but I wanted to dry them faster. So, I pulled them all down and sliced them lengthwise, spread them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on low.
In my defense, I usually don't have a cold that requires the blowing of my nose every 5 minutes. I realized something was very wrong when the outer edge of my nose caught on fire. What the? There was then a little mild swearing and vigorous hand washing to get the pepper oil OFF and meanwhile my nose is STILL ON FIRE and did I just RUB MY EYE? Am I a complete moron? It's not like I haven't done this to myself before. Hello? Gloves? I see why pepper spray is so effective... I just about knocked my own self out in my own kitchen. So, my face is on fire and I can't open my left eye. "Mommy? You ok?" "Peppers..." I choke out, and start coughing up a lung because I've just breathed in the pepper from the air.
I won't even show you the teeny tiny bag of dried red pepper flakes I got for all my trouble.
Last night, when Lee came to bed, I was still awake. I rolled over and wiggled my fingers at him and asked, "Are my fingers on fire?" He laughed, confused, and said, "No. Should they be?" I had trouble sleeping they were so hot. And today, "Mommy? Why are you shaking your hands like that?" They laughed at me too.
So, next year! Gloves! Remind me!
4 comments:
I've had that before after slicing and freezing a bumper crop of jalapenos. It was so bad I googled it to see if there was something I could do. One of the suggestions was to soak in yogurt, I think. Not having any, I sat around with each hand in a bowl of milk. That helped, as long as I KEPT them in there! I don't know what you'd do about the eyes though. One time, I did peppers, then took out my contacts. STUPID! After that, I made sure that I wasn't wearing contacts before doing peppers!
Holy carp, I'm so sorry I was totally laughing reading this. (Of course I'm over tired and really must go to bed...) Crazy spicy peppahs!
Another friend told me that her and her sister had to hold ice packs all day one time (when they were kids) just from picking and washing some home grown peppers. She was very concerned when I told her we were growing jalapeños in our garden. ;) Hope you feel better soon!
Warmly,
Nicola
You might want to invest in a dust mask as well...
I'm busting a gut here! Thanks for the reminder that I'm REALLY GLAD that I'm a gardening idiot and will never actually harvest anything spicy, since I can't successfully grow them in the first place. . . just 'cuz I just TOTALLY know your scenario that you so hilariously described would then take place in MY kitchen!
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