I'm not a diehard when it comes to recycling–for one thing, Moses Lake doesn't have many options beyond newsprint–but I am a cheapskate and since I'm required to use paper towels for drying of hands, I do put them to double use sometimes. I might also wipe the sink down or wipe the peach juice off my chin. When I use a towel to dry out a cup before measuring sugar, I usually drop it on the microwave and then later use it to wipe up a spill or blow my nose–that sort of thing.
Life Lesson # 685: Never, ever, ever, EVER recycle a paper towel originally used to dry hands which have cut up a large quantity of extremely hot peppers. Ever. Not even–especially not even–to blow your nose and wipe your streaming eyes. If you thought the onions were doing you in, well, you've got another thing coming.
Furthermore.
The burning residue does not easily or completely come off your hands. Gradually, yes, it will wear off–on everything you touch for the rest of the day. And then everyone else who touches those things will feel the burn, also. Which is a handy way to discover which of your teenage children has been chewing your pencils or borrowing your chapstick [insert wild, maniacal laughter at this point] but at the end of the day, when you bend over the bathroom sink, determined to wash the last vestiges of a day of salsa-making from your face, you will need to wear latex gloves, else suffer the blinding, sinus-clearing consequences, once again.
Just a word of warning from someone who knows.
September 8th, 2009 at 9:26 am
Such words of wisdom you have bestowed upon us. Thank you, my pepper cutting guru. 🙂