The cooler temperatures inspired me to cook some winter vegetables. I was looking for something different, that was fairly known, but something I hadn't attempted. I wanted to see if the hype about the squash that could substitute it's baked insides for pasta was true. I went out and bought a spaghetti squash.
It looked nice and fine in it's eggplant-shaped smooth exterior. It was an attractive shade of yellow and from what I read, the color of the outside would be in the color of the inside cooked strands. I looked over my choices and picked the one I thought was most yellow. It was solid, heavy, smooth, and just what I thought I wanted.
It was late in the day when I tucked the whole squash into the 375 degree oven. The cookbook said to cook it whole for about an hour, so I put it on a foil-lined pan and let it cook. An hour later it didn't look to be done. It didn't indent when I pressed it, so I let it go another hour before I pulled it out of the oven. I was a little puzzled since it still seemed very firm, so I grabbed a knife and barely dipped the tip into the middle of the squash.
Let me warn you. Never, no never ever, ever ever ever, dip even the tiniest tip of anything into the flesh of a steaming, hot, whole squash, just out of the oven. Did I say never ever ever! Listen to me, don't do it!
Just as I barely nicked the surface, the angry, yellow, demon exploded all over me. Hot, raging, strings landed in various globs all over my right hand and shoulder. A few hit my face but they were the first wiped away as I backed up at least 2 feet and dropped my knife. There was yellow strings covering the front of the stove and kitchen floor before me. Yowsa! I immediately put my right hand under the cold water tap and left it there for a good 10 minutes. I didn't wipe away the glob on my right shoulder until later but I finally grabbed a towel to wipe it off when I felt the burn going through.
Needless to say, when Jay got home he managed to get himself into a panic. At least I had cleaned up the squash from the kitchen floor and picked up the knife or he would have taped off the area as if it was some kind of murder scene. He wanted to whisk me off to some emergency room and I kept saying it was like a bad sunburn without the pleasure of being outdoors. He didn't appreciate my light-hearted attempts to calm the situation and kept insisting. I knew it wasn't that bad (or wouldn't be) and I was quite honestly embarrassed by being injured by a squash, especially a yellow one.
Yeah, I knew it wasn't good but it wasn't that bad. I've really had worse sunburns. The shoulder looks awful but hurts the least. My index and middle finger on my right hand burned like heck last night (I kept it iced) but there isn't a drop of pain now and all that is left now is a muddled discoloration on my knuckles.
Oh, and there isn't a drop of spaghetti squash left either. Jay dumped it for me some time last night. I don't know where or when. I only know it is gone and only the two of us know of the entire incident. I guess you could say he disposed of all evidence against me. We are safe from any impending investigations.
Gotta love him for that!
TT
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