Bio-hazard on the homefront

In honor of my departure (?), I decided to relive one the most American moments of my stay. For some of you, this won't be the first time...

NOVEMBER 17th, 2005

The attack on the cutting board began 2 days ago when I made a beef stir-fry dish for dinner. Beef. Not chicken, not pork. Beef. Apparently my vigorous scrubbing and a night in the dishwasher left a faint bit of meat stain on the white cutting board. My mom has since begun and continued the assault with all of the weapons in her anti-bacterial stock-pile. First Lysol spray, then antibacterial soap and HOT water, another trip to the dishwasher, and two soaks in bleach water. I'm not sure when it will end.

Someone needs to stop this germ-fearing madness, and I know it ain't just my mama. I am speaking for all Americans. Are we creating a league of super bacteria? We now have access to industrial size anti-bacterial gels with hand pumps at Sam's and Costco. Is it really necessary?

This stuff is unheard-of in Italia. After telling my mom that the butcher cuts my chicken thighs with his bare hands and THEN he hands me the bag with those same bare, contaminated hands, I think she's going to start calling me to make sure that I soak in a Lysol bath after every trip to the meat market. I mean, they wash their cutting boards with regular soap---you may want to sit down for this--AFTER CUTTING CHICKEN! Yes it is true. They even let teething babies gnaw on the discarded raw chicken fat.

Ok, just kidding. They spray the cutting boards with lysol... ;)