by Dawn Smith-Pfeifer
Christmas at our house this year was slightly different. Our son and his wife couldn’t make it because she fell victim to the stomach flu, leaving our holiday crew down to our daughter, her cat, hubs and me, and our overly enthusiastic and curious doggo. Despite the smaller crowd, we managed to have a blast, stay up way too late, and devour an irresponsible amount of food.
Of course, in true “me” fashion, no holiday is complete without some sort of self-inflicted injury. Is it even a real celebration if I don’t slice, burn, or otherwise hurt myself?
Note to self: When your husband is sweet enough to compliment your basil-chopping skills, just stop and say, “Why thank you!” Otherwise, you try to brush it off, laugh, and get distracted enough to slice into your finger.
Yep. I turned a perfectly nice compliment into a bloody, chaotic mess. Literally.
So here I am, rocking a “festive” bandage on my right index finger. (It’s really not festive at all; it’s just gauze and three bandages strategically placed to keep the gauze in place while the cut heals.)
The cut is on the side of my finger, (thinking a filleting technique) so typing isn’t too terrible, but other activities like washing my hands and hair, cooking, or even opening a jar have become a comedy of errors. While I’m technically a lefty, I’ve apparently trained myself to do a lot of things right-handed. Who knew? Taking wet clothes out of the washer? Struggle. Placing groceries in the basket? Dropsies. It turns out that without the gripping strength of that right forefinger, klutziness ensues. (Not to mention “Clean up on aisle 4,” but that’s a story for another day.)
So, what have I learned from this festive fiasco? Well, maybe it’s something along the lines of, “Stop what you are doing, and appreciate the compliment without multitasking like a maniac.” Or, as my mother used to say to me, bless her memory, “You don’t need to do everything with so much gusto!”
Dawn is the editor of the On Your Table website and is open to any kitchen safety tips you want to send her way so she can keep her fingers intact. Just email her at dawn@ndfb.org