H is for Hazardous...

... I've found that sometimes the kitchen can be a hazardous place.

Soon after Alma and I were married, we were having dinner with his mom. I guess she was checking my hands out, because she started asking me what all the scars on them were from. I explained that most of them were from cuts and burns I had gotten while cooking. She then said, perfectly sincere, in her wonderful, thick accent, "Alma tells me you're a good cook, but I don't know how you can be a good cook if you're always hurting yourself!"

Needless to say, I currently have four cuts, in all stages of healing, and two pretty raw burns on my right hand alone. I also have a very large, interesting scar forming on my wrist from a hot oil spill a month ago.

Contrary to my mother-in-law's belief, I'm of the opinion that if you don't have the battle scars to prove it, you must not be trying that hard in the kitchen!