Martha Stewart of Cirebon

While all of you were sleeping soundly, I decided this Saturday morning to cook. I had all the ingredients I needed to make a rice dish with chilies. So after boiling the water for my laundry I decided to get down to serious cooking. I had a variety of chilies from the traditional market and I removed the seeds and chopped the chilies very finely. About twenty minutes later my finger tips were burning. Not just five mind you, but all ten! They were bright red and the pain was excruciating. I went into my medical supply bag, and low and behold – nothing for burns. I have plenty of mosquito repellent, antibacterial cream, anti-diarrhea, antacids, band aides, everything but burn cream. I was in tears as I tried to wash it off – no good. I ended up sitting in my tiny, smelly bathroom swishing my hands in the tub. This helped relieve some of the pain. But when it got too intense I ran to my tiny little refrigerator and placed my hands in the freezer section. The plastic wasn’t frozen, but at least it cooled by fingers down somewhat. This “medical” procedure of running to and fro from the freezer to the tub lasted about an hour and a half. I kept thinking – if I had to go to the hospital I would never live this down. But I was afraid that the pain would not subside. The fingers were red and burning. Finally I was able to stay out of the water and the freezer long enough to turn on the computer.
Thank goodness for the internet. I discovered that you can soak the affected areas in vegetable or olive oil. It also said that you must soak for at least one hour to guarantee relief. Having only corn oil – I gave it a shot. The oil caused the burning to become more intense, so I created a system of one hand in the ladle that I use for my bath, and one hand in a bowl of corn oil. I would alternate the hands when the pain was too much in the bowl of oil. It actually felt like the oil had heated up. After an hour and a half of being able to do nothing but alternate hands in the water and oil containers I finally could sense some relief. My fingers are now wrinkly and still burn somewhat, but this is quite manageable. However, I and the entire house smell like the boardwalk – with the vats of oil frying the French fries. The diced chilies are in the frig, I think I’ll just have plain rice tonight, and I’m thankful that there is no toilet paper here- for once!