So we're back home and I'm back to preparing nightly dinners. We've been doing this Bountiful Baskets thing, which is awesome. Normally I wouldn't be into it because it's so MormonMommyScrapbookingOrganicMakeYouOwnLaundryDetergentGreenSmoothie-esque, but it appeals to my sense of frugality. Basically for $15 you get a ton of random fresh produce each Saturday morning. The catch is that you have to go pick it up and you never know what you're going to get.
So last Saturday we got a ton of crazy stuff, including Anaheim and jalapeño peppers. The wife and I aren't crazy about spicy things, but are somewhat adventurous and are usually willing to try new stuff. So for dinner I stuffed the Anaheims with a sausage/jalapeño/cream cheese/garlic/onion mix and used another jalapeño in a tomatillo soup. The preparation of these meals required me to cut up two jalapeño peppers, which I had never done before.
I've always heard that when you cut peppers you should avoid touching your face or eyes before washing your hands, but I always thought that advice was similar in importance to peeling onions underwater so that you don't cry. I peel and cut onions all of the time and I never cry. So naturally I can ignore the advice about preparing peppers. Right?
Wrong. I must have run my hands through my hair/face/eyes/lips/inner ear because within 20 minutes of finishing cutting the peppers, everything above my neck exploded in pain. I tried washing my hands, the knife, the cutting board, my head and neck, and nothing soothed me. I took off the clothes I was wearing and put on new ones. I opened all the windows and doors in the apartment. No relief.
The pain lasted 30-45 minutes and then subsided. Since then I have not been able to put in my contact lenses without being bombarded by searing eye pain. I cut the peppers on Monday and yesterday (Wednesday) I was blinded by pain for the first 20 minutes I had my contacts in. I even put in new contacts - no difference. The venom is in my eyeballs.
But it may have been well worth it because the stuffed Anaheim peppers and tomatillo soup were both really good.
Yeah. Barry's had a similar experience. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteMust've been when he was single. As I understand it, peppers of all variety are banned from your house.
ReplyDeleteMy similar experience was also not very fun. For some reason I had shaved prior to preparing my food and so my skin was extra sensitive. I've always enjoyed the slight pain associated with a splash of aftershave. However, a splash of capsaicin on the tender pores was not enjoyable in the least. I also didn't enjoy having every person I came in contact with for the next couple of hours look at me as though I had some loathsome disease.
ReplyDelete