Better Home Cooking Basics: #40 Wear Gloves when Working with Chili Peppers.

This is one of those do-what-I-say-not-as-I-do lessons. A few years ago I made some spicy guacamole by grating jalapeno peppers into my mixture - bare handed. Turns out my hands felt like they were burning for hours afterwards. I tried everything from soaking them in alcohol to milk. Milk seems to have the most cooling effect, fyi.

This past weekend when I was making harissa I barely touched the chili peppers I was working with but I swear the skin on my hands has memory burn or something because they started to sting a little bit. A few hours after making the harissa I washed my face & smoothed on some moisturizer. To my surprise there were still chili oils in my fingers & now on my face which was burning. I quickly swabbed my face with cotton pads soaked in milk & the burning slowly went away.  The moral of this story is - wear gloves when working with peppers. Oh & don't dare touch your eyes if you haven't - ouch!


Get more of my better home cooking basics here.

Fish Tacos

Who doesn't love tacos? When we were in Hawaii for our honeymoon I ate fish tacos at least once a day.

Chris loves sushi & seafood but he usually opts out of cooked fresh fish.  These fish tacos are great way to get him to eat fresh fish.

I used this recipe with some fresh tilapia for my fish tacos.  The key is to prepare the marinade ahead but to only marinate the fish for 15-20 minutes max, otherwise the lime juice will start to "cook" the fish.  The best part is that you get tons of flavor in just a short amount of time & since it's a marinade you don't have to spend a bunch of time mastering your knife skills - chunky & mismatched sizes are OK here!

I grilled whole wheat tortillas & topped with chipotle mayo, shredded cabbage, tomatoes & fresh baby spinach.

What's your favorite kind of taco?

P dot S: Happy Birthday Christine! xoxo