Get "Tied" Up

I do not consider myself to be "uptight." I am more of a "free spirit." I enjoy letting loose and being free and easy... That said, lets talk about bondage.

Wait! WOW! I just went for it didn't I? 

Get your mind out of the gutter and into the kitchen Dear Reader. Geez! I'm talking about bondage as in "tying your hair back." My goodness! Where is your mind? Let's get to know each other first...

As you know, I am in the final editing stage of my cookbook. In each and every recipe, I state in the  recipe directions, "Tie your hair back." I have "hair ties" in the "Equipment Needed" section of the recipe. Hair ties are just that, "needed/required equipment" in the kitchen. Why? Well, there are many reasons: 
1. Finding a hair in your food is DISGUSTING! (Unless you're into that. Who am I to judge.)
2. Cleanliness. 
3. Safety. Wait. What? Yes. Safety. I will share with you a very personal story... The story is untypical "serious" so brace yourself.

Many years ago now, our daughters and I were baking Koulourakia. (Koulourakia are a scrumptious, buttery Greek cookie we call "Twisty Cookies in our family.) Anyway, our family was just returning from a vacation and Alyssa, our oldest, really wanted Koulourakia, like me, they are her favorite cookie. I pulled out the heavy-duty mixer and began creaming the butter and sugar... Alyssa had very long hair... My spidy mom-sense kicked in a millisecond too slow because the next thing I knew, Alyssa was screaming! You see, her gorgeous, blond six-year-old hair had become entwined in the beater of the mixer! She got scalped! I mean that too! We're talking 'Telly Savalas' bald! It was horrifying! I truly felt like the 'World's WORST" mother! In that moment, I deserved that title!

I called my dear friend, Sara, to talk about the incident and to warn her... She said she knew someone whose child had also had this happen! Dear Goodness!

Right about now, you're probably covering your mouth. (The way we do when we see or read about something terrifying and awful.) I have tears in my eyes and my hands are a little shaky as I write this all these years later! I am only sharing this story with you to prevent the same thing happening to you or worse, someone you love... (As a mother, any injury that happens to my child is worse than what could ever happen to me.) Please, please, please, TIE your hair back. Tie someone else's hair back that is working with you in the kitchen! It should be the FIRST thing you do when you enter the kitchen! Please, get tied up! Let your "free spirit" loose in the kitchen through the way you use ingredients, NOT your free-flowing hair.

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