Thursday, January 03, 2008

Who knew evil could taste so good?

Good citizens of internetland, meet my nemesis:





















Cucurbita moschata, aka butternut squash.

In helping Lydia to prepare our delicious feast of pork chops stuffed with apple/bread/chorizo stuffing, roasted potatoes, and butternut squash roasted with apples, pecans and maple syrup (I KNOW! SO GOOD.) I was put in charge of chopping and peeling the squash. Cutting the damn thing was a herculean effort. Those bitches are tough to cut through. But that is not the point. The point is that after cutting it in half, peeling it with a veg peeler and cubing it all up, my hands started to feel really weird. Sort of like there was crazy potato starch drying on my skin. So I washed my hands... but it got worse. My hands started to tingle and feel numb, and the skin on my hands started to tighten and turn red. It felt like burning. So I washed my hands again, only to have the skin on my fingertips start peeling off in layers.

I kind of freaked out. I took an antihistamine and got on the Internet. Apparently, this happens to other people too.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH GAVE ME CONTACT DERMATITIS! I'm totally allergic to squash sap.

I have spent the entire evening applying lotion to my poor, poor hands. They look and feel really weird and gross. The best part? IT CAN TAKE WEEKS TO HEAL.

I still ate it though. It was delicious.

If you think about it, that is the ultimate revenge...

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