I've been doing it wrong all my life....

That was the thought that ran through my head pretty much throughout my first food safety/preservation course last week.  But let's begin at the beginning.

It was a cold, snowy April day here in Central Oregon on my first day of class,

and the OSU extension office parking lot was no different.

Ironically, this was the song playing on my iPod as I pulled into the lot:

There are seven of us in class (and I have no more pictures of that day because we were busy, busy, busy), and everyone was quite  nice and funny.  Here are some things I learned:

• I've been washing my hands incorrectly all my life.  We had a cool little ultra-violet thing which lit up the bacteria on our hands like the lights on the Strip.  We looked at our unwashed hands first, then washed our hands in our usual way, then looked at them again.  My cuticles were still glowing with bacteria - ugh!  Then I washed my hands the  CORRECT way, and voila!  No more neon!  (The correct way is to wet your hands, shake off the excess water, soap up and massage the soap into your hands and over your fingers for twenty full seconds, by the way.  I've been singing the days of the week in Spanish to the tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star in order to get my twenty seconds in.)  Naturally, I've been washing my hands like a freak since then.

• I haven't been sanitizing my cooking surfaces correctly.  Oh, I clean like the dickens, but it's not the same.  A solution of one teaspoon of Clorox to one quart of water put in a spray bottle (and used, of course) is the way to go.  I'm happy I haven't poisoned anyone in the past, but I'm taking better care in the future.

• There are some things one can actually refreeze after they've partially thawed, without ill effect.

• There are some things one can actually cut the mold off and still eat without ill effect.

• Tasting something you think is bad is bad.

We prepared some sauerkraut, froze some veggies and fish, and made some jam.  It was 6 hours of fun and activity and learning, and I loved every minute of it (the program director seems to care a bit about her volunteers, too; unlike some master gardening people who shall remain nameless).  This week we're learning about canning fruits (and will make some pie filling) and making effective presentations to the pubic.  This is a blast!

Now I must wash my hands.  ♫Lunes, Martes, Miercoles..... ♫


P.S.  I'm down a total of 21 lbs since Valentine's Day.  With the ten I lost in November, I'm 31 lbs lighter!  Yay me!