My Brainless Act of the Month

Interesting traveler at the metro Nation.

At least once a month I do something absolutely stupid, something that really takes the biscuit. This month was no different. And not only was the thing stupid, it was also quite painful.

I love most types of food (with the exception of Chinese) and one of my greatest pleasures is learning how to prepare, cook and serve each type properly. Recently, I've been on a pho kick. It's a fantastically healthy, delicious Vietnamese soup.

Because I like to know how to make stuff, I decided to do it at home. I found a decent recipe, bought all the ingredients and started the process of making a relatively cheap soup from scrap (I probably could have bought about 5 prepared soups for the price I paid for all the ingredients).

One of the garnishes is a Thai chili pepper prik kee noo (translates to mouse shit pepper-attractive, huh). I always put some in my soup and have never had any problems with the heat of the pepper.

Like a first time cook, I forgot to wear gloves whilst cutting up the little mouse shit. At first, nothing happened, but as the night wore on, my hands, cuticles, fingers, fingernails, etc. started burning. The sensation was horrible and got so bad at one point, I thought I might cry (not a big crier). I couldn't keep my hands out of cold water long enough to search on WebMD to find a cure/home remedy/voodoo curse/prayer to a saint.

After trying vegetable oil, milk, tomato juice, burn cream and onions, I decided to coat my hands with plain yogurt. This, or the combination of all the other cures, did the trick and I finally got some relief, although I am still missing a layer of skin.

Lesson learned.