Having a garden means I have to find ways to use up the food it produces. This summer, I’ve made zucchini bread, quiche, pie, and muffins. I’ve made tomato sauce, tarts, and foccacia. I’ve eaten countless cucumber-and-tomato salads and countless mozzarella-tomato-and-basil sandwiches.

Still there is more. I saute it. I roast it. I give it away. Still there is more.

Yesterday, I decided to utilize my over-producing jalapeno plant and my zealously producing tomato plants by making roasted tomato salsa. This meant roasting nine tomoatoes, a half head of garlic, and three jalapenos. To do this, I had to split the jalapenos and take out the seeds. Although I tried to touch the jalapenos as little as possible, it somehow still got all over my hands.

I have been down this path before. You get jalapeno on your hands, you think it’s gone, and the next thing you know, it’s stinging your eyes, your nose, your ear, and everywhere else you have touched. So this time, I was smart. I called my scientifically minded husband and explained my predicament. He got me a glass of milk and told me to stick my hand in it (a base vs. an acid. Science!). I did so. The jalapeno seemed to go away. All was well.

Except, it wasn’t. This morning, I opened my contact case to put in my contacts and

oooooooooooowwwwwwww!

A flash of needle-poking stings and a desperate, desperate grab to pull the piece of plastic out.

Jalapeno: Polluting my contact case and contacts.

Luckily, I had one more pair left. Now I have to go to the eye doctor for a refill.

The good news: The salsa tastes yummy.