Bare Foot Cooking

Words for people who are wiser than me:

Never cook supper in your bare feet!

I hate wearing shoes. The first thing I do when I get home each day is kick off my shoes. I know I'm feeding the classic stereotype of Kentuckians, but I can't help it. Shoes are constricting and limiting. Nothing feels better to my tootsies than soft grass, cool puddles of water and soothing sand.

Last night as I was cooking supper - porkchop casserole with potatoes and onions - I sloshed some hot oil out of the pan I was browning porkchops in and it landed right on top of my right foot. Ouchie! I quickly put my foot into water and then added ice - I kept my foot in the cold water as long as I could stand it. After drying my foot, it was still burning and stinging, so I slathered on aloe vera. The aloe cooled the burn - for about 5 minutes.

By this time, the entire top of my foot was red and a half-dollar size blister was forming - this must have been the impact site. More soaking in cold water, more aloe, but this wasn't working and the burn was making me sick to my stomach.

About 6 weeks ago I made mixed up some plantain ointment from the plantain growing in my front yard - to read an article I wrote on plantain, check out Examiner.Com. Believe it or not, this ointment help cool the burn and took the sting away.

I applied the plantain ointment several times last night and this morning my foot is better. I still can't wear a sock or shoe over the burn, but it doesn't hurt as bad. Later today I'll start applying antibiotic ointment to prevent infection. My biggest problem is resisting the urge to "pop" the blister - I know this will only make it worse.