The Claws Come Out At Night

This is a public service announcement.  It's been on my mind for years now.  I  finally have a place that I can place my random food and kitchen musings, and I shall use it for the good of mankind.  I hope I don't offend, but I have to get this off of my chest.

A few years ago a friend of a friend invited me to her house for dinner and to play Scattergories.  My friend is very particular about who she eats food from because she simply doesn't trust everyone's level of cleanliness in the kitchen.  I'm the same exact way so I trusted that her friend met her standards and I readily accepted the invitation.

I was highly impressed with how clean her house was and was over-the-moon with joy when I saw her spotless kitchen.  She and I easily made jokes with one another and there was no awkwardness at all.  On the menu was meatloaf, tossed salad, and homemade rolls.  She hadn't started preparing the meal yet so we all went off to the kitchen to keep her company.

What I saw cannot be unseen.  She opted to mix her meatloaf by hand, which is the same way I prefer to mix mine, but she wore no gloves.

You may be thinking,  "So what lots of people mix their meatloaf with their bare hands."  This is true.  However, she had long and beautifully decorated natural nails.  Although I saw her wash her hands before and after she touched the meat, I still cringed each time I saw her hand twist the meat to mix it thoroughly.

Most people do not clean under their nails with extreme care.  Let's not forget that you use your hands to clean yourself after you use the restroom.  It is imperative that all debris is removed from your hands and nails so you don't carry those germs into your food.  Typhoid Mary taught us this lesson.

I have no problem with anyone who has long nails.  I try to maintain long nails myself.  However, when I need to get elbow deep into my food I make sure to wear gloves/ to clean under my nails with deliberate care. Please do this because the life you save may be your own.  You may become slightly ill hours after you've eaten and not know the root cause.  Lingering debris under your nails may just be the culprit and something as simple as wearing these gloves could have prevented your illness.

Anyway, I could not bring myself to eat the food.  I pretended to have a toothache and nibbled on a mini bag of chips I had in my purse while they weren't looking.  To top it all off, I lost every single game we played that night. Oh well...such is life.


Smooches!