Remember the other day, when I was debating on whether to open up and eat that Valentine heart of presumably-once-delicious Whitman's Assorted Fine Chocolates with the BEST BY date two years past? I haven't done so yet. I'm still working on nightly rations of the cheesecake that I almost broke a tooth on that mysterious shell found inside.
I suppose it comes as no surprise that The Pony once howled for a piece of his chocolate chip granola bar that he squeezed too hard, a piece of which broke off and fell to the garage floor. We were on the way to school at the time. I think he was in kindergarten. Nothing would console him, even my offer to run back in the Mansion and get him another chocolate chip granola bar. No. The only thing that consoled him was me picking up that broken piece and handing it to him to eat while riding to school in his booster seat.
We're of hardy stock, we Hillbilly family members. Cast-iron stomachs. Except for that time Farmer H bought a TV dinner that was Linguine With Clam Sauce, and turned green, and was sick for three days.
Anyhoo...around noon, I made a pot of chili for supper. I've done it many times. I know how to make my chili. I daresay this is the most tasty batch to date, though Farmer H and I haven't eaten supper yet. I sampled it, and it was spectacular.
I was washing up the dishes, and wiping the kitchen counter. I'd already let the suds out of the sink. Tossed the paper towel away. All that stood between me and a clean kitchen was a spot there on the countertop where I'd opened up the cans of chili beans and other assorted beans and the diced tomatoes.
Huh. How did I miss that? It wasn't a very big spot. Smaller than a dime. Not circular. Kind of stretched out, like a chef does with fancy sauces on a huge plate just before serving a thimbleful of a gourmet entree.
I wiped up that little irregular spot with my thumb, and licked it. After all, I was sure it was just some of the liquid from the chili beans.
EEWWW!
That was NOT liquid from the chili beans. I have no idea WHAT it was! It tasted like rusty knife juice. Not that I make a habit of imbibing rusty knife juice. I have NO IDEA what I put in my mouth. That counter was clean when I started. It was just the cans, and the big bowl of 7 Layer Salad that I took out of FRIG II to scrape the last from into a bowl for my lunch, to wash the big bowl. And nothing about this rusty knife juice hinted at 7 Layer Salad (not the original from our Thanksgiving, but a new one I made this past weekend).
I think I'll survive until tomorrow. Maybe I need to open up that 2-year-old candy and see if it acts as an antidote.
It could have been a bit of rust that washed off the bottom of a can of beans, when maybe a bit of bean juice leaked out upon opening, that would account for the shape and flavour.
ReplyDeleteDid you fall into that chili before you could proclaim how spectacular it was?
ReplyDeleteWere you in a sauna when that happened?
At least whatever it was didn't lick you back!!
ReplyDeleteRiver,
ReplyDeleteThat is possible. I didn't look at the bottom of the cans. The tops weren't rusty. I might have guessed it came from the bottom of a pizza pan I rinsed before washing, but I didn't set it on that counter.
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Sioux,
I did not. But I would have been mortified if I had, even if somebody else had given me the task of discovering how real that chili was.
I was NOT in the sauna, but only last night, Farmer H asked me if I'd ever been in one. Don't know what brought that up with him.
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fishducky,
That is a definite plus!