Public Service Announcement

I'd like to remind everyone that this soup is quite delicious and fast. Eating it over brown rice makes it feel like a real meal.

However, I'd also like to remind you to WEAR GLOVES when cutting chillies. Seriously. If you have sensitive skin like mine, even a serrano can do you wrong. Last night I had finished preparing and eating the soup when a patch on the back of my right hand, and along the sides of a couple of fingers, started to tingle and then burn. It took me a minute to realize what it was, but as the burning continued and became painful, I asked the Internets for help.

They said things like alcohol and--somewhat horrifyingly--bleach. The closest thing I had to alcohol was Scope, so I poured that over the back of my hand, rubbed it around, and then rinsed it off. It made me smell minty, but only helped for about 45 seconds, so I returned to the Google. One person suggested lime juice, and, despite the fact that it had begun looking brown and shrivelly weeks ago, I actually happened to have one in my fruitbowl. I cut it open and was pleasantly surprised to find it both juicy and smelling decent, so I squeezed it over my hand and let the juice sit on my skin for a while before washing my hands again. That seemed to do the trick, for which I was very grateful; it's surprising how bothersome such a burn can be.

Tonight a friend and I went to see The Dark Knight, which opened at the Riverview this weekend and packed the place out. I did think I was better able to appreciate the villain's character (and, oddly enough, the sound design) this time around,* although there was still far too little of Christian Bale for my liking.

Other things I was loving today:

• Waking up to sunshine on snow
• Seeing my first cardinal of the season
  
• My new Capilene long underwear
• Sweet potato fries at the Longfellow
  

*Oddly, I can't find any report on my experience the first time around. I'm pretty sure it was a Wednesday evening in July, and my mom and I went together.