me!

i was making the roux for my gumbo and it seemed to be sticking to he
wooden spoon rather a lot. so what did i do? i picked the spoon up and
went to brush off the chocolatey-coloured roux with my finger. my only
excuse is that i've never made a dark roux before and so i had NO IDEA
how hot it is... but as soon as my finger touched the back of the
wooden spoon I knew.

can we say owie???? a dark roux might LOOK look like melted chocolate
but it's flour and oil and it's hot. very very VERY hot. at least it's
only one fingertip... i've had it under the cold tap for about ten
minutes and now i'm icing it on an icepack because it hurts like the
blazes as soon as i take it off.

lesson learned. and it's going to be rubbed in with a vengeance when i
have to try to make the rest of the dinner and then wash the dishes
one-handed. Dipping it into hot water would be a Very Bad Idea right
now.