work was called off wednesday afternoon. today, work has been called off in the afternoon again.

i headed straight home. our street’s flooded and one more house, we wont be able to get to our gate.

anyway, since i’m a bit bored, i had to do a little research on staphylococcus (remembering Discovery Channels “I Survived” featuring an E.Coli breakout).  it triggered my amazement with microbiology even if i flunked it once in college (Food Microbiology – FS 116). Silly me. Now, I treasure the importance of taking up this subject. 

I’m not really a mysophobe but I make sure I wash my hands or rub my hands with plenty of alcohol before I eat or after holding money or coins.  *tip* sing the complete “Happy birthday” song each time you wash your hands. We always do that before  and after our microbio lab.

Aside from the happy birthday song, here are some things I learned and I always remember:

1. Do not eat homemade mayonnaise – raw eggs may contain salmonella

2. When eating steaks, have them cooked medium. the rarer they are, the more it may be infected with salmonella or E.coli (sorry, i don’t care. my hon and i always have our steaks medium rare. we’re still ok.)

3. grilled burgers have twice the risk if they’re cooked rare -  ground meat is in itself a total threat because of the meatgrinder’s microorganism haven.

4. foods with cream (like cream puffs) remind me of salmonella. they contain undercooked eggs. if you don’t know if the cream-based food is fresh, don’t eat it.

5. Homemade ice cream with raw eggs is a no-no. (I tried making homemade ice cream once!)

6. Clostridium botulinum thrives even without air. if you see a canned good that is already bloated, throw it away. it’s already poisonous. And I mean DEADly! (that, i learned from my mom)

7. Undercooked chicken may have listeriosis. it’ll be quite obvious that the chicken is undercooked if you’ve reached the chicken’s bone.  so check first before you eat.

8. Don’t consume unpasteurized milk, juice or cheeses.  who would want to drink milk straight from the cow’s udders?

9. it’s true – when you sneeze, it contains millions of bacteria. the strand of hair you see on food – it does contain MILLIONS OF BACTERIA too. even a small strand of eyelash can spoil your food fast.

I have been a victim of food poisoning many times, probably because of some microorganism. I’ve been hospitalized twice. The doctor even suspected cheese from the yellow cab pizza i ate caused it. still, i love YC! My digestive system is a bit sensitive now.

clean food. ISAW from Ilang-ilang is still the best! wooohooo!!! Just wash your hands first before eating isaw!

don’t forget the Blood Red Moon on August 28!