today many of my long time (and some short time) co-workers received layoff notices. I will have the pleasure of working with them until October and hope that they will find new opportunities before then. As with many of us, my emotions are on a roller coaster ride - one I didn't buy a ticket for and one I have no idea when will end. My head is spinning, my stomach hearts and my heart aches. I can only hope that they will begin a new adventure soon, share their stories with us, and end up in a better place than they are today. And, as I so often do, I am trying to find some humor in this day. It's cheaper than Prozac...
Strangely, I was asked twice today for "really spicy beef jerky". And since I needed to go to Costco anyway, I bought some jerky meat and pondered my spicy recipe. I made 1/2 a batch of my signature peppered, 1/4 batch of increasingly popular Rooster Sauce and with the last 1/4 I got creative. I marinated it briefly in the soy/sugar/smoke concoction, squeezed out the excess, added 1 T. Hunan red hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne and sprinkled red pepper flakes liberally over the batch. I thoroughly 'massaged' the marinade into the meat to ensure it was all covered. I let it sit for a minute while I started to disassemble my slicer (which REALLY needs to be replaced). I started the dishwasher and noticed a funny (but not so funny) tingling in my fingertips. Must be from running my sponge and hands under the hot water as I cleaned up...right? The meat had sufficiently soaked up the marinade so I squeeze it once more before I carefully placed each piece (no touching or overlapping!) on the racks. Hmmmm....now my knuckles are tingling...odd. In about 5 minutes, all the "hot stuff" is on the racks and under the dryer. I continue cleaning. By now, the tingling has reached my elbows. This is reminiscent of an experience I had with Jalapeños about 7 years ago. No...really...I couldn't be that stupid again, right?! Or could I?! Sure as sh*t I think I have pepper burns again. As I type, my keyboard is singed & smoking. I can no longer read the letters on my keyboard as they have melted off. But this will only further impress my kids when I type my future blogs. "Mom...it's so cool how you type without looking at your fingers!!" A note to the wise...go to Costco, buy some latex gloves. Use them for car repairs, light gardening, and whatever else you do with "examination gloves". But most importantly, wear them WHENEVER you cook with peppers. You may also wish to wear them when cooking with garlic, onions, saffron, cumin or curry, when cutting beets or dying Easter eggs. Without gloves, all of these things will either stain your hands or leave you smelling like your food. Gloves will also prevent you from having to soak your hands in vinegar (not Malt) or call the nurse hotline for advice on how to make the burning stop. My advice is free...my jerky is not.
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