Monday, April 20, 2009

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.

8 comments:

buffalodick said...

As a veteran of many chili cook-offs, this pain is not unknown to me...Once, at a cook-off, after cutting up some seriously hot peppers, I had to go to the Mens' room..did what I had to do, washed my hands, and back to cooking. Five minutes later, my crotch was on fire, and I invented the chili dance...

Jules @ Lovely Las Vegas said...

You poor thing! Yikes, I didn't realize attempting to make pho at home could be so dangerous, hehe. But peppers can be caustic to the skin, so I guess it is understandable.

I hope you are in less pain now! A missing layer of skin is no fun.

Jules @ Lovely Las Vegas
www.lovelylasvegas.blogspot.com

starbender said...

awww, poor baby! I have done that, and it is horrible. I didn't notice it until my eye had an itch. Wow-things heated up quickly, I don't eat hot peppers, and I swear-I Will NEVER cut or handle them again.

I love food, all kinds, but I don't think I could ever choke down 'prik kee noo' especially with the translation added.

I pass....

starbender said...

Buff- Is that how you got your nickname???

...just curious~~ heheheee

Sorry for the interruption Angela!

Unknown said...

Yeah, I've done the eye rub so I can only imagine how it would feel on other parts of the body.

Thanks Jules and Star. I've learned my lesson! I will buy pho pre-made from now on!

Pardon My French said...

I can easily imagine myself in your situation (don't know why, but the thought of onions as an antidote makes me giggle, but why not? Kind of like the red wine/white wine thing). This week actually I burned some skin off my fingers with stain remover--it spilled as I was putting laundry in the machine and I didn't wash it off right away. So that is yet another thing to watch out for...

Unknown said...

Pardon-Duly noted! So strange the things we never think about and how much pain they can cause us.

Jul said...

Ouch! That's why I've just given up on chili peppers all together. If something needs to be spicy, I just toss in some cayenne pepper powder.