Tuesday 3 November 2009

'Cause You're Doing In My Nut And Do You Think I Care?

I have the throat of death again, which means that my diet has been reduced to liquids and viscous substances. I'm all about the scrambled eggs and rice pudding right now. My mom is a firm believer in the healing properties of homemade soup so I decided to make myself a giant pot of butternut squash soup. I love squash but I don't often buy it because Shawn doesn't eat it and then I'm stuck eating squash leftovers for a week. I've never prepared a butternut squash before, is what I'm saying. I was completely unprepared for all the burning and crying. Butternut squash is evil. Butternut squash can be a moody bitch . Butternut squash should come with a warning label. My left hand (the hand that held the squash as I peeled it) was swollen and painful. The skin was chapped and reddish-orange. My skin was so tight that it ripped when I tried to straighten my fingers.

Dr. Google told me that I was suffering from "cucurbita moschata dermatitis" which is just a fancy name for "wtf, nature, wtf?"

My hand is almost back to normal now, two days later, but the psychological scars remain. I think the moral of this story is that trying to be healthy is not worth the pain and agony it can cause. From now on I'm eating cheeseburgers.

15 comments:

  1. WTF? I had no idea that squash could bite back! Sorry to hear about this... I hope you feel better soon!

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  2. Ouch! I'm sorry you had such bad luck. Sweets made some amazing butternut squash ravioli a couple weeks ago. Wait, maybe that's the key. You need to get Shawn make the squash and you get to eat it. Then you'll never know how evil it is!

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  3. Does it come pre-cut by any chance? Or just get good canned soup?

    Hope you feel better! Remember to also drink LOTS of lemon-honey tea. At least that won't give bad swollen hands and is easy to make.

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  4. Ugh! If you're prone to contact allergies, watch out for raw mango skin. My fiance had a horrible reaction to it. Apparently, it's in the same botanical family as poison ivy. I hope you feel better soon!

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  5. i think nilsa's on to something - squash prep sounds like a job for shawn!!

    (although so is marie - at whole foods & trader joes around here, you can get pre-cubed squash. hopefully one of those exists up there? or an equivalent?)

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  6. You poor thing. Why were you holding a hot squash? Didn't you just cut it in half, roast it and let it cool? I'm so confused.

    Also, I hurt my finger the first time I made a dish with butternut squash. I never thought of peeling it with a vegetable peeler because I'm an idiot and the knife slipped and WHAM, right into my hand. Awesome. But I forgave butternut squash; I had to - our CSA sends us tons of it.

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  7. I cook with butternut squash all the time and have never had an issue with it. Sorry it was such a painful experience!

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  8. I had a traumatic butternut squash soup experience too. Pumpkins are better. Pumpkins are benign and taste delish with coconut milk (lite!) and thai curry paste, blended up.

    Feel better!

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  9. I had the same reaction! It made me afraid of the reaction I would have if I went through with eating it, so I tossed it.

    I LOVE butternut squash so the whole thing made me hella sad, actually.

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  10. Squash is top on my list of things that I love but don't have the patience, strength, or energy to prepare.

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  11. I love how regularly our posts make each other throw up a little bit.

    "My skin was so tight that it ripped when I tried to straighten my fingers."

    How does this happen!? We just bought a butternut squash at the farmer's market on Friday and now I am terrified of it!

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  12. Oh sweetie!! That's double lame! =( Feel better!!

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  13. Yikes! So terrible! Clearly not all veggies are good for us. Quick healing, my dear.

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  14. Oh, LAME. Hope you're better soon!

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  15. That from butternut squash? I had no idea that could happen and I LOVE butternut squash. I hope your hand deflates (un-swells? returns to normal?) soon. Same with your throat. No one needs the double whammy you got this weekend.

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