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18 March 2009

saving silver, man

I hate touching raw meat, especially ground meat.

The way it oozes between your fingers as you mix it. Ugh, it turns the stomach. So I should have gone with my gut reaction (churning nausea) when I looked at the bowl of turkey-meatloaf-in-the-making and debated whether or not I would mush it together myself.

Brian was ignoring my calls for help as usual, probably engrossed in one video of a Leprechaun sighting or another, so I finally took a deep breath and mushed it myself.

I popped it in the old oven and walked away. It wasn't until 45 minutes later, when I looked at my fingers on the keyboard, that I noticed my treasured claddagh ring was missing.

Trying to ignore the nagging feeling of where it probably was, I briefly searched the apartment. Nothing. It was definitely, without a doubt, baking in the oven at 375 degrees fahrenheit... surrounded by meat.

There was nothing I could do but wait. Another 45 minutes later, the meatloaf was done. Brian found it in his first bite! Unfortunately, once I saw that it was blackened and encrusted with turkey and flax seeds, I started getting teary-eyed.

I bought the ring in Claddagh, Ireland (beside Galway) when we were there almost 3 years ago, and it reminds me of the amazing time we had: Sitting on the ocean, drinking wine from a paper bag while making fun of a group of buskers; eating fish and chips for the millionth time that trip, but still loving it; laughing together despite the brutal night we'd spent sharing a hostel room with carnies who walked around in their underwear and puked everywhere while the smell baked in our greenhouse of a room; walking along the cliffs of Moher. Really, this ring is deeply tied to all that jazz.

So thank goodness that one of my best friends majored in material design at OCAD, and specialized in jewellery. Rozlyn reassured me that the melting point of silver was much higher than 375 degrees, and told me that I could get it looking back to normal in a few easy steps. I followed her instructions and soaked in boiling water, scrubbed it with a toothbrush dipped in baking soda paste, and lastly, polished it with cream blush. To my amazement, it is back to normal.

Thank you for saving my silver, Rozzie!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Dallas - another wonderful kitchen story from you! I'm glad you managed to restore it back to its original bright beauty!

This story reminds me of a certain chocolate... no wait, it was a vanilla cake?? :)

-cheers, Gill

Unknown said...

Gah! Oh man, that one was dangerous! I swear I only closed my eyes for 5 minutes, but really an HOUR and 5 minutes had passed... with the vanilla cake in the oven. Yes, it certainly looked chocolate by that point. Did we trick anyone into eating it? Maybe Kieran?

Kate said...

hahah a night with carnies! and fish and chips! what a fabulous time it was. glad you were able to polish your memories back into place.