Danger!

For those of you, like me, who did not know that jalapeno peppers are evil... well, here's your warning.  Jalapeno peppers are evil! 

You're probably thinking that they don't look very evil.  However, they can burn the crap out of you if you're not careful!  Their skin has a chemical called capsaicin in it that irritates and burns mammals, apparently.  Here's a story I found about a guy who had some intense pain...

So, you may want to know why I suddenly feel the need to warn you.  I was making Cheeseburger Soup tonight and chopped up a jalapeno pepper to add to it (which I have done before, I might add).  Without gloves.  After I left the soup on the stove to cook, I sat down my couch and suddenly realized that several of my fingers had kind of a painful burning sensation happening. 

Here's what to do if that happens to you! 

Olive oil seemed to work for me, so I'm just glad I didn't have a 5 lb. bag of peppers like the guy in the above story link.  Yikes.