Thumb Numb and the Sandi Pop Paleta

My thumbs are numb and my fingers feel clogged.

I've spent the past thirty-six hours cooking, cooking, cooking. First it was pizza night at Woodberry Kitchen where I slow roasted my right hand in a six hundred degree oven. This morning it was setting fire to the smoker for my test run of a smoked, slow cooked carnitas. I spent the afternoon shopping for peppers, tortillas and other ingredients. Then I spent the evening firing up the grill to super high heat to grill some chicken, roast tomatillos, char peppers and continue roasting my right hand in the process. To top it all off, I had to deskin and clean all of the poblano and jalapeno, which may be causing the slight buring sensation in my hands and on my face. Good thing I didn't scratch elsewhere...

Right now, I'm sitting here with worn out hands and eating a very interesting watermelon lollipop from Mexico that's been coated with guajillo chiles. It's something that Ana likes to eat and surprisingly, it's not really hot. It's more salty and very reminiscent of the li hing mui candies that we eat in Hawai'i. The pepper is layered on pretty thick so it takes some time before you get to the watermelon candy, but once you the two combine, it's really quite good. Sweet and salty, with just a bit of spicyness.

I think I have to order more. That is, if my hands recover...