When peas get under your skin

Oh man, it feels good to sit down. Today's big endeavor was to de-pea sugar snap peas from their pods. A lot of them. Like a mountain of them. I still feel a bit woozy from seeing so many peas. Actually, it was just a box of them, about 2.5 ft x 1 ft. But those pods were tiny, and the peas inside them even tinier. I must've been de-pea-ing for about 3 hours straight. After the first ten minutes, the peas started getting under my skin. Literally. To the left is a very fuzzy picture of my thumb. See the disgusting-looking green darkness under my nails? That's pea pod that's embedded so deep under the skin I can't even scrub it off. When pea pod gets under your skin it hurts like hell. After the first hour or so of suffering, I discovered the "stab and rip" method, where you stab the tip of a paring knife at a 90 degree angle into the pea and conduct micro-surgery on each and every one of those little bastards. Oops, I mean sweet peas. This was not the kitchen-approved method because you could probably hurt yourself pretty badly with the knife, but I would've preferred cutting myself and bleeding over the pain of pea pods under my skin.

The result of all the labor was a mere 1.5 quarts of puny peas to be used for a rabbit dish. It really didn't look like much of an accomplishment, but according to ChefX, I "made an Olympian effort" Yes, that's me patting myself on the back. Pat pat pat.

A nagging question: Hey, why do we have so many sugar snap peas in December? The box said they were from Peru. I guess RestoX has its occasional indulgences too.

On the positive side, the those peas certainly were tasty, and you come to appreciate the beauty of each and every one. No two peas are alike, and they're a bit like babies in that every single one of them needs individual care and attention. The next time I see a dish with fresh peas, I will first appreciate why it's so expensive, then take a moment to consider what poor fella had to peel all those hard-earned peas.

There were some observations I made, some questions answered, and a few other tasks completed, but those will have to come in a later post. Yay for peas! Not.