I'm typing this with my left hand...

...Because I just burned the poo out of the 2nd and 3rd favorite fingers on my right hand.  Stop thinking about which is the 1st favorite!  You may, however, think about how a person as sensible as yours truly could possibly burn the poo out of two perfectly good fingers.  Well, I'll tell you.

It all started with my dear friend going off sugar and sugar subs.  She lauded the merits of such deprivation and that got me thinking, "I bet I could do that."  She feels wonderful, I want to feel wonderful.  Yes!  I'm doing it!  It has now been 20 days since I gave up sugar and sweeteners.  Impossible, you say?  Nay!  Well, I will confess to a few instances of, "Oh crap, this tastes awesome.  It must have sugar in it."  And two intentional cheats for a B-12 supplement.

What does this sugar business have to do with burning my hand?  Here's the thing.  I am planning to jump off the band wagon in a BIG way.   I will be hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon, back out again, and I ain't worryin' about sugar.  Part of the jump plan involves preparing treats to take along for the hike.

So, I saw this recipe on Pinterest.  Yep, I do that.  The recipe was a very appealing recipe for brittle that contains lots of nuts, seeds, and dried fruit.  I diligently gathered up all the ingredients and got an honest to goodness candy thermometer.  I think you see where this is going.  To make brittle, one must heat a sugar and water mixture to 302 degrees F.  That happens to be the temperature at which sugar morphs into lava.  Now, being a geologist, I know a little about lava.  The main thing is you don't want it on you, cause that stuff is hot.  I don't really have a reference for the specific behavior of lava when it makes contact with skin, but I now know what sugar lava does.  It sticks.  Oh yes, neighbors.  There is a horror lurking in candy recipes It's called sticky sugar lava that is heated to the temperature of the sun.  Candy makers force sugar into this transformation all the time.  They could take over the world with this stuff.  I would do whatever they want as long as they don't start throwing sugar lava on me.

Anyway, as I hastily tried to get the brittle mixture out of the pan and onto my properly greased cookie sheet, some of the sugar lava slopped onto my hand.  It wasn't my best moment. I said some things that I won't repeat here, and practically crawled inside the sink with the cold water running.

Some very interesting blisters are emerging on my pointer finger. You can see the sugar's travel trajectory across my thumb just below the nail and onto my pointer finger with a flourish.

At least the brittle looks good!  Can't wait for the Grand Canyon to try it :)