If in doubt, throw it out.... The suggested amount of time at an unsafe food storage temperature (40-degrees F. to 140-degrees F.) is two hours.

You should use this safer method for cooling the soup and not leave it out at room temperature. To cool it quickly, fill your sink with cold water and place the pan of soup in the cold water. To cool the soup even faster, add some ice to the water in the sink. I have a number of blue ice containers in the freezer and I add those to the water in the sink. Be sure to stir the soup frequently so the warmer inside portion has a chance to reach the side of the pan where it's colder.

-Grainlady

This post was edited by grainlady on Sat, Nov 23, 13 at 8:55

I'd eat it but that is just me. Nothing in it was raw. When I was a kids we'd have pizza for dinner and we always left the pizza box on the counter overnight (probably didn't fit in the refrig). We always ate it the next day. Don't know if that is comparable, just saying...

Throw it way. Chicken soup is one of the more dangerous things to leave at prime bacteria-growing temperatures.
Next time, don't cover the soup until it is cool. The lid keeps it warm longer. You want it to go from hot to cold as fast as possible.

I'd eat it. I routinely leave soup out overnight.

It's all preparation for the zombie apocalypse. No, seriously, I think it is worthwhile to challenge one's immune system.

I woke in a panic about 2am night before last. I had my crockpot chili in the sink, with a big chunks of ice, lid off. I thought i had left it out. (husband had put it cooled, uncovered in the downstairs fridge around 11pm). Had i left it out until 2, it might be safe but i would have taken its temp to be safe. I freeze a bunch of plastic water bottles that go in the sink with the crock.

grainlady already pointed out the 40-140 unsafe zone. It will cool down quicker with the lid off or tipped sideways to let the heat escape. Then ice it anyway you can think of. I prefer the cold water/ice/sink method also. If you can keep critters out safely, and it is winter where you are, you can put it outside for an hour or two.
(i put a big moose stew out in the snow on the deck and it was gone in twenty minutes! Maybe a moose ate my moose, haha) wasn't funny at the time...

Hot soup straight to the fridge will raise your fridge temp so much making your fridge contents not so safe.

We use our phone timers all-the-time to help remember such things.

I would eat it. I have eaten all sorts of food that I have left out overnight.

Whether or not I'd eat it is one thing (no!) but even if I felt like rolling the dice for myself I'd certainly not serve it to someone who is already horribly sick.

When I need to cool down a few quarts of something I'll put the pot inside a bigger pot with an ice bath. I also have water bottles in the freezer which I'll put inside the hot pot. Then it all goes in the fridge without worrying about warming the fridge too much.

There's a cooling paddle in my other freezer to help cool larger quantities of stock.

Think about how much fun vomiting for hours is. Then decide if it's worth it.

I did the same thing 2 weeks ago with a pot of chicken and dumplings. No way was I gonna take a chance and eat that.

My mom always said to boil it hard for ten minutes and not worry about it.
I am more cautious, especially with chicken.

Thanks everyone! My inclination was to eat it, but I listened to those of you who counseled caution, and dumped it down the sink. Then I went to the store and bought the ingredients all over again. We have a fresh pot on the stove. And I will fast-chill and refrigerate the leftovers!

Hi all - I'm sleevendog's husband - (easily my greatest accomplishment.) I'm a historian.

Coolbeans made a serious and correct choice.

Of course no one wants to waste lovingly cooked food . . . but:

In our refrigerated times we all too easily loose sight of the dangers of badly handled food, and I think we fall too easily into the trap of the pseudo-science of "toughening our immune systems" by exposing ourselves to things not so clean.

It's worse than silly. During the Civil War, more than 620,000 people died. more than two thirds of those deaths were unrelated to battlefield action. 400,000 people died from things related to bad toilets, bad water and bad food storage.

If you eat some gently bad chicken soup now-days, you'll probably just spend a couple days in bed. But remember: It doesn.t have to smell bad to be bad . . .

Or, if you have other health issues you could be in serious deadly trouble.

We forget how safe we have it and think too much of how tough we should be.

And we can handle most things. But we don't need more challenges to our immune system.

With breathing and age and just walkiing around, It's busy enough.

Hi all - I'm sleevendog's husband - (easily my greatest accomplishment.) I'm a historian.

Coolbeans made a serious and correct choice.

Of course no one wants to waste lovingly cooked food . . . but:

In our refrigerated times we all too easily loose sight of the dangers of badly handled food, and I think we fall too easily into the trap of the pseudo-science of "toughening our immune systems" by exposing ourselves to things not so clean.

It's worse than silly. During the Civil War, more than 620,000 people died. more than two thirds of those deaths were unrelated to battlefield action. 400,000 people died from things related to bad toilets, bad water and bad food storage.

If you eat some gently bad chicken soup now-days, you'll probably just spend a couple days in bed. But remember: It doesn.t have to smell bad to be bad . . .

Or, if you have other health issues you could be in serious deadly trouble.

We forget how safe we have it and think too much of how tough we should be.

And we can handle most things. But we don't need more challenges to our immune system.

With breathing and age and just walkiing around, It's busy enough.

I am with John. I have no problem eating food left out of the refrigerator overnight.

I have been to many places, in tropical weather, where food is commonly not refrigerated. If the food smells the next day, they just wash the smell off and add some more seasoning.

If your body is not given the chance to deal with germs, at some point the germs will takeover.

There have been cultures wiped out because they had no immune defenses against some new microbes introduced into their environment.

dcarch

John, my old doctor used to tell me that we were "sanitizing ourselves sick". I've been known to drink water out of the garden hose, eat a carrot right from the ground after just dusting it off, and I eat raw eggs and raw beef in spite of all the warnings.

I do draw the line somewhere. I wash the apples before they go into the cider press, I won't eat commercial ground beef raw and I'm far more concerned about eating the insecticides, herbicides and fungicides (and all the other 'cides that are in our food supply) than I am about the dirt on that carrot, although I dislike the grit if I don't dust it off enough.

Would I eat the soup? Maybe, depending on my mood that particular day, but I generally do not trust commercial poultry, raised in the most foul conditions (get it? Foul? Fowl? Tee Hee. Oh never mind). Would I feed it to someone already sick? No, they're already sick so their immune system is already busy trying to recover.

So the answer is yes and no. I'd probably eat it, but I wouldn't give it to someone else. Since your purpose for making it was to feed your sick husband, then I think making a new batch was the best decision you could make in this instance.

Annie

Surely it depends on the temperature in the kitchen? In my house, it's so cold overnight that I'd eat it no problem. If you heat your house so overnight you're swanning about in a t shirt, maybe not.
I also agree with the clan that we are too fussy about food. It's one of the reasons so much is wasted - tons of perfectly good food is thrown away every year. Very sad when there are so many people struggling to eat well.

I think Annie has nailed the issue--the commercially raised stuff is the worst--meat or vegetable.

One point that has not been taken into consideration is that there are MORE varieties of bacteria, and more DEADLY bacteria than was around as little as 20- to 25-years ago.

Those bacteria were not a factor in our ancestors lives. But times have changed and science has shown us many of the old practices could be potentially deadly practices in this day and age, just for that reason alone. What I call playing "food safety Roulette" in my Food Safety Classes.

Another point to consider.... What caused our ancestors a mild intestinal "inconvenience" could be deadly today. As people have evolved, their immune systems have gotten weaker. As the population has shift from rural to urban, we bring another change.

Fifteen years ago I sat through a boring dissertation by a well-known research scientist about the immune system. At the time, his studies proved our immune systems were 25% weaker than 10-years prior and were falling at an alarming rate. People on medication/s, young babies/children, the elderly, or anyone with a compromised immune system or auto-immune disease, need to take more precautions than healthy adults - even to the point home-canned foods may need to be avoided because of a higher risk of bacteria in the food if it's improperly processed or handled. We're even cautioned against feeding babies and toddlers honey and unpasteurized apple juice because of the increased risk of E. coli.

Pork was religiously cooked at high heat and for long periods of time because we knew it could make us "sick". Everything was literally peeled, boiled and "cremated" that went into the kitchen. "Slow Cooking" wasn't a nifty cooking trend, it was a reality.

We don't eat like our ancestors did and our food sources are very different. Very little food is home-grown or even local. Where it took only a few hands to produce food, now it's many hands and from all over the world.

Growing up in the 50's and 60's we grew large gardens and canned our own food, picked local fruit, raised and killed our own chickens and ducks, raised our own pork, ate fresh game and fish we shot or caught and processed ourselves, and bought beef from our cousin. The beef was pastured (which lowers the e.Coli present in the animal) and it was processed at the local meat processing plant - one animal at a time. So you got the same animal you raised. Chicken didn't come from a processing plant or from somewhere where they were raised by the thousands in confinement. Our eggs were handled by only a few people - those of us who gathered the eggs and those who cooked. Our water used in the garden, and the ground we gardened on, weren't contaminated with human waste.

So those are just a few reasons we should take a few more precautions.

-Grainlady

Grainlady, you kinda just made John's point.

All this brings up something I've wondered about. What about aging beef? How is beef aged, and why doesn't it develop bad stuff while aging? If this is too off the topic, I apologize, and just ignore the question.

Sally

"----What about aging beef?---"

If you have seen making prosciutto, with all kinds of green mold growing on them -------

and you eat prosciutto raw (pork)

dcarch

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sally,
Beef is aged in very controlled conditions. The temperature needs to be between 33-36 degrees (too cold and it freezes; too warm and you know what happens). The humidity is also regulated. Dry aging beef evaporates the moisture and concentrates the flavor. However, there is considerable loss in "poundage", hence the meat is much more expensive.

There is a natural fungus on meat (and for the life of me, I can't remember the name - studied it in Food Science a very long time ago :-) that breaks down collagen making the meat more tender but does not produce any toxin or off flavors.

Wet aging is different (and much more common) but I don't know too much about that process. I think they vacuum seal it to retain the moisture and keep it in the cold room for a certain period of time. I believe it's only a few days as opposed to dry aging that takes a few weeks; the shorter time plus the retention of weight makes it more cost effective to use that method.

I've read a lot of old newspapers while researching my family's history. People died like flies. People of all ages. An old bible in my family says one of my ancestors "died after eating clams." She was 36. Things were not better in the old days. We now have the ability to keep food at safe temperatures. Why not do it?

Welcome Sleevendog's husband...I enjoyed your post!

"-----Things were not better in the old days. ----"

Who knows.

We spend $1.75 trillion dollars today each year to keep us chemically and medically alive.

Take that away, and we will find out how much weaker we have become in the food chain relative to germs.

When we first send astronauts to space, we found out that in a few days, their muscles atrophied from lack of exercise to the point that they were unable to walk when they returned.

Guess what happens if we don’t regularly exercise our immune system.

OTOH, germs are getting stronger and stronger.

dcarch

Technically speaking, bacteria are not getting "stronger"; they mutate quickly to become drug-resistant. That's why you have "superbugs" these days.

Sulfa saved my dad's life in World War II (every GI was issued a first aid kit with sulfa powder in it to sprinkle on any open wound), but bacteria quickly became resistant to it, so penicillin was found to be more effective with fewer side effects. Penicillin is no longer as effective as it used to be, so there are new antibiotics evolving every day. We can't do it quite as quickly as the bacteria, though. It's a race that we, as humans who evolve much more slowly, can't possibly win.

I really believe that antibiotics are way over prescribed (the grandkids get some sort of "...cycline" or "...cillin" every time they have a sniffle). Don't even get me started on hand sanitizers and antibiotic soap :-)

"---Don't even get me started on hand sanitizers and antibiotic soap :-)------"

Absolutely ridiculous!

Here in NYC, there are a few office buildings which provide hand sanitizers next to the elevator call buttons !

dcarch

I'm with John and dcarch on this one. I have eaten lots of left out food in my 68 years. Of course, most of this was well reheated. We were talking chicken soup and I assume it would have been well reheated. From my experience, I would certainly be fine after consuming such a soup.

I assume that the only potential problem is the production of toxins from the bacterial growth. I couldn't find obvious examples of what those would be. Most food poisoning examples were from actual bacterial infection. Cooked meat touching raw meat for example. Grainlady; do you have any good examples of toxin poisoning?

It's not that there's any certainty of getting sick. It's the uncertainty of not getting sick. We all make judgments about risks versus rewards. As FOAS points out, we may decide to risk some harm for ourselves a lot more easily than for our families.

chas045-

"Toxin poisoning" - a bacteria (pathogen) has grown from the bacteria into a toxin. Toxins are formed by microorganisms that are present in food. Foodborne "intoxication" may occur after consuming these toxins. We're in contact with and consume all kinds of bacteria each day, it's when the bacteria develops into a toxin that it's deadly.

Bacteria require four factors for a foodborne illness to occur:
1. a microbial contaminant
2. a food vehicle carrier
3. conditions allowing bacteria to survive, reproduce or form a toxin
4. a susceptible food consumer who ingests enough of the bacteria to induce illness

E. coli is a good one. The first recognized outbreaks of illness caused by E. coli O157:H7 occurred in 1982 (and there are many strains of E. coli). "Generic" E. coli is a normal part of the intestinal tract of humans and animals and does not cause a foodborne illness. E. coli O157:H7 infections have been associated with raw milk, lettuce, untreated water, ground beef, unpasteurized apple juice and cider, deer jerky, produce from manure-fertilized gardens, yogurt, and radish, clover and alfalfa sprouts.

Take cantaloupe as an example, if it wasn't washed properly before cutting, there could be bacteria on the ground that transferred to the outside of the fruit. When the unwashed cantaloupe was cut, bacteria transferred from the outside to the inside of the fruit via the knife. Left in the right conditions the bacteria can grow into a toxin (sitting there for several hours on the picnic table at the park, as an example).

Salmonella develops into the toxin Salmonellosis and is one of the most common bacterial foodborne infections. Salmonella bacteria grow in a wide range of temperatures, acid levels and environments. I had a friend rub his eye after separating raw eggs, and the Salmonella bacteria found a perfect little environment to develop into a toxin in his eye, and my friend had a case of Salmonellosis.

Listeria monocytogenes bacteria develop into a toxin resulting in Listeriosis. Listeria has the ability to grow at refrigerated temperatures and in high salt concentrations, but it's sensitive to heat. Listeria is a concern with the growing market in the rapidly expanding product line of ready-to-eat, refrigerated and convenience foods. Improper refrigerator temperatures happen in businesses and homes all the time. That bout of 24-hour flu is often from food, not a virus. But we also get viruses from untreated or contaminated water and from feces that may be present on human hands found on food.

Clostridium botulinum is a heat resistant, spore-forming organism that produces a toxin in its vegetative (growing) state, and grows in the absence of oxygen and at pH levels above 4.6. Places of growth include sealed containers or below the surface of food. This bacteria is present in soil and water. A baked potato wrapped in foil and stored for a long period of time at the wrong temperature (below 140-degrees F.) at a restaurant or at home is a good example of where C. botulinum toxin can grow in a food. The botulinum spores can live and grow in small spaces with little or no oxygen between foil and skin of the potato if the potatoes are baked early and allowed to stay warm, but not HOT, for several hours. Improper home canning is another example. Just because the jar was heated, it may not have had enough heat penetration to kill the bacteria in the center of the jar. Just because the jar sealed, doesn't mean bacteria can't grow because this bacteria grows in the absence of oxygen. And this is why we should boil all low-acid home-canned foods for the prescribed time for your elevation, when we open them for consumption.

Other bacteria I discuss in my classes are Clostridium perfingens (C. perfingens). These spores can survive cooking. Then, if the food cools too slowly, the spores can become active and grow and multiply in the "warm" food.

Camphlobacter jejuni - common cause is undercooked chicken, raw clams, contaminated drinking water, raw milk, raw hamburger and even contact with cats have been sources for Camphlobacter (pregnant women should avoid cleaning litter boxes because of this bacteria). Ground beef should reach 160-degrees F, and you should reheat leftovers to 165-degrees F. Wash hands after handling pets, especially while doing food preparation.

-Grainlady

I don't know if I would eat the soup (probably) but it brings to mind a question.

Has any of you actually gotten sick from food or had food "poisoning"? I can't recall a single incident in my life that I ever got sick from food. I do recall eating things that may have been suspect such as things left out all night.

I'm just wondering how much this happens.

Just want to be clear, When I serve food to friends, I go to the other extreme to keep everything clean, including using a germicidal UV light to sanitize the entire kitchen.

I have never gotten sick. There have been a few times I know my system was fighting challenging battles, from more stomach activities after eating, but nothing too uncomfortable.

dcarch

Specific to reheating improperly treated leftovers are Staphylococcus aureus and Clostridium perfringens, heat-resistant toxins created by bacteria when foods are not cooled correctly.

The authors of Modernist Cuisine are famously staunch advocates of sous vide and other methods which they classify as "lightly cooked," yet they themselves strongly advise against serving these foods to people with potentially compromised immune systems, and in particular advise to throw out leftovers rather than save them for reheating because of the length of time they spend in the danger zone. Says something, no?

Debrak - Last weekend I made spaghetti and meatballs and sausage. At one point during cooking I remember thinking "I probably shouldn't have done that." I don't recall what it was, but it stuck in my mind because it was out of character for me. Everyone ate it except for my daughter who doesn't eat anything I cook. The rest of us all ended up with nausea, the worst of which was my son who ended up missing a day of school because it was coming out of both ends. Was it coincidence that the only one not affected was the one who didn't eat dinner? I'll never know for sure, but it sure sounds likely. But that was nothing, as compared to the year that just about everyone got violently ill for several days after Thanksgiving. Again, we can't be sure of the cause, but putting two and two together...

Like Grainlady said, that "24-hour bug" might well be food poisoning.

The attached article is a worthwhile "fair and balanced" read.

Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times article

I've had food poisoning exactly once in my life, from undercooked fried oysters. My son and I both were violently ill beginning about 18 hours after eating them and lasting for three days of total agony. It was several years ago and I have not, and will never again, eat an oyster.

Never got sick from food left out or food past its use-by date.

debra, I don't remember ever getting sick from something I ate, although I may have and not known it I suppose, and everyone I do know who actually got food poisoning got it from eating at restaurants. If you saw what went on in restaurant kitchens you'd never eat out again.

I did have a bunch of family members get food poisoning once, though. My Aunt Lulabelle canned a batch of pickled mushrooms which she served at a family reunion. I don't know whether she didn't use enough vinegar or didn't process correctly, whatever. At any rate, several family members ended up in the emergency room. As I've often said since then, nothing takes the edge off a family party like watching Aunt Esther throwing up in the rosebushes.

So, yes, it does happen. It's not happened to me and I've eaten some very suspect food items but my brother got food poisoning at Taco Bell. My girls have called it Toxic He!! ever since.

Annie

I also draw a distinction between what I eat myself and what I serve to guests. No left-overs for them!

As for prior food poisoning, I gather the classic symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and fever. I've never had those all together, or any other episode of what I think was food poisoning. Even kayaking in Baja, drinking local water and eating chicken and ceviche at remote beach shacks; eating nasi goreng from fly-spotted street carts in Indonesia; plates of raw ground beef in small French towns.

At the same time, I am quite distrustful of poultry and ground meat. We know those are routinely contaminated in US supermarkets, often with antibiotic resistant bacteria. I wash everything carefully when preparing chicken, and I don't buy ground meat at all (grind it myself).

This thread is freaking me out about cooking sides and desserts for Thursday and freezing them. I guess I could choose to skip this thread..Oh, what am I saying? Of course I will read and freak!

Oh, I've forgotten my manners. Welcome to Mr. Sleevendog, I hope you are enjoying the Cooking Forum as we're talking about poisoning family members with our cooking, LOL.

Malna, my old doctor absolutely agreed with you, said hand sanitizers were far overused, as were antibacterial cleansers of all types. He felt that too many people used hand sanitizers as an alternative to washing their hands. He said that if I was shoveling the barn and got cow manure on my hands, and I washed them well, my hands would be clean. However, if I used hand sanitizer they would still have cow manure on them, but it would be sanitized. (grin)

I've often said that I have kissed a horse on the lips The same people who cringe at the thought of a child eating an M&M retrieved from the floor have a cat that digs in the litter box and then walks on the counter when they aren't watching. They've probably also put their purse on the floor of the car or the floor in the restroom at the local restaurant, then gone home and set that same purse on the counter or table. Things might not be as clean as you think.

Well, my baking sheets are, but that's a different thread altogether, LOL.

Annie

I've had food poisoning once from commercial cold cuts. As it turns out, the package had a small cut in the bottom of the package, probably from the person opening the box they came in with a box cutter. The store was notified and they found several others that had a cut in them and one more case of food poisoning. You've never had flu symptoms as bad as what you get with food poisoning.

-Grainlady

I’m laughing, Annie. Pet peeve -- purses, laptops, bookbags, etc. on my kitchen table or counter. That said, when my daughter was little, she crawled under our couch during a party and pulled out a “bird’s nest” (think the hugest dust ball ever) Obviously, dust is not a pet peeve:)

I’ve gotten food poisoning (Listeria) from a salad bar. That part of a menu no longer exists for me.

The worst, however, was watching my 19 year-old son retch for more than 24 hours straight, hang his head in the toilet and whisper “I can’t do this anymore.” After 2 days in the hospital, more iv’s bags than you can count, loaded with Zofran, etc. we finally went home. Nope, he’s not a “sanitized” kid, either.

I consider eating questionable food akin to playing Russian Roulette. The short term benefits do not outweigh the potential risk/consequences. Really ... as my grandmother would say "Go grab a piece of bread."

Right choice, Coolbeans.

Cathy in SWPA

This is an interesting thread. Thanks for the info about beef, not that I'll ever eat any.

Some members of my family got sick once a long time ago from eating left over Chinese take out. I didn't eat any of it, and didn't get sick. They were quite sick, but not sick enough for the hospital, luckily enough. I guess we didn't learn, as we still eat left over Chinese take out when we have it on hand.

Sally

If you are up this morning, feeling pretty good, except for maybe some monday blues, you are running probably 85/15. A loose healthy number, 85 being a healthy system having no problem dealing with 15% everyday bacteria. The numbers shift a bit if your system is working hard dealing with a 'bug', or the common cold.
As a home cook, it is being responsible to make safe decisions if a family member is not feeling well. Or if cooking for a crowd.
I remember the NYTimes article. Choices explained.
The original question was answered and i think a good choice was made to dump it. Sure you can boil it over and over and 'kill' it. Killing any flavor or food value as well.
Our chili was chilled quickly but i still give any re-heats a good time on the stove.

We have all dealt with foodborne pathogens. Those little 6-24hr unexplained 'bugs'. Or just a grumbly stomach. Others are more obvious and memorable. I've had a few. Not from our home that i've traced. Usually having eaten something out or at work.

Why i like to serve buffet style for a crowd keeping everything hot/cold. Or serve right from the warm oven, in smaller serving dishes, passed around the table that can be re-filled when empty.

Ha ha. Mr Sleeven IS sleevendog. We signed up with his screen name when shopping for my garden hog tractor. I remember seeing the other forums, "oh look, cooking people..."
'Sleeven' is a sneaky rascal person in the Newfoundland dictionary. I actually think it has one 'e', as in sleven. Not only is it spelled wrong, it isn't even me. : )

I agree about the hand sanitizers. Creep texture and where does it go?...I don't mind seeing them all over though. I've been in many NYC elevators with sneezy walking flu bombs.

If you've ever had a bad bout of food poisoning, there is no way you'd ever consider eating that soup! :)

I once got food poisoning on an airplane after eating airport pizza that apparently had been sitting under a heat lamp for longer than it should have. Flying out of San Francisco, I was starving and stopped to have just one slice to tide me over until I reached my destination - Hawaii - 5 hrs later. About 3.5 hrs into the flight, I was so sick that I was ready to just open the emergency exit and bail out the door to end it all. You have never been truly thankful for an uneventful flight until you've had food poisoning in an airplane bathroom. The flight attendants felt so bad for me that they moved the other seat holders to first class, moved me to the row/seat closet to the bathroom so I could lie down, and asked the other passengers to use the other three restrooms, one of which was in first class. By the end of the flight, I couldn't even hold down water. The airline had me taken to the nearest hospital in an ambulance. I spent my first night of vacation in paradise in the hospital and the first 3 days after that coming back from the dead.

Ever since that trip, I won't eat anything that is the least bit questionable. I'd rather waste some food than go through that hell on earth again.

My DH went through the same thing as you, mainecoonkitty. Six hours of coast-to-coast hell -- for both of us! He ate mussels at a restaurant on Cape Cod the night before, started feeling queasy on the way to the airport, and spent the entire flight moaning and throwing up into a barf bag. He spent two days in bed after we got home. I don't know how he endured that flight.

I've had a stomach virus or food poisoning only once as an adult, in 1986! I remember it well! I won't ever take the chance of eating suspect food. I'd rather throw out $10 worth of food than spend days in misery.

Well, ummmmm, well I know I poisoned myself with leftover split pea soup. Maybe 20 yr ago. Still not on the menu and hubs loves it. Maybe someday.

Feel so sorry for those of you who traveled sick. This is funny: probably 4 yr ago, we headed north to visit hubs brother/family in St. Louis. Got to just north of Atlanta, sinuses went friggin nuts. Oh man, sneezing, gagging, and all that. Convinced hubs to turn around and come back home. It took a lot longer to convince him that I wasn't faking it. And I wasn't. I like seeing the Missouri countryside--so different from FL.