A Cautionary Tale

I've been enjoying the farmer's markets nearby. I enjoy fresh veggies so much! And the deer have discovered my garden. I had such high hopes of even having enough produce to do some canning this year. The Compadre calls the deer "the juvenile delinquents" because we have seen them hanging around the neighborhood in groups - and they are young deer. He imagines them smoking cigs and munching on our yard - you know, having a frat party. And they have the audacity to leave their droppings behind! Anyway, I digress.

I've gotten some fresh beets at the market and I love to make pickled beets. I always keep them in the refrigerator - I don't bother to can them because I eat them up so fast. The Compadre doesn't like pickled beets and so they're all mine! The recipe is super easy, it involves boiling together 1 cup water,1 cup sugar, ½ cup vinegar, 1 stick cinnamon or ¼ tsp. cinnamon . Pour this over cooked, sliced beets. Soak at least overnight and keep in the refrigerator. I sometimes add more beets to the liquid as long as it still has some vinegar taste in it. Oh, and to cook the beets just remove the greens and put them in a pot. Cover with water and boil until a fork will go into them. Then cool them under cold water until you can handle them. The skins will just slide off. Be careful the beet juice stains clothing. Someday I'm going to try to dye something with it.

Now the cautionary part of this tale is that when I made the pickled beets and was pouring the liquid over the sliced beets I was wearing birkenstocks and no socks. Need I say more. I've been a food service manager for over 21 years and I really do know better. But I've been burned enough times to know that when you're burned, you cool it down as fast as possible. So I ran to the bathtub and held my foot under cold running tap water until I couldn't stand it anymore. And the good news is that my poor little toes survived. My left birkenstock is kind of sticky though.