Peppermint

On a cool evening in August, Ali and I decided to have some hot chocolate, in memory of good times at Southern. I got out the mix and heated up some water. Then I remembered that Ali liked peppermint in her chocolate - she had even had a mix at Southern that had some peppermint flavoring in it - so I began rummaging around my mom’s cupboard for some peppermint flavoring. Happening upon a tiny glass bottle labeled “Peppermint Oil” I presumed I had found the object of my search, and showed it to Ali. We opened it up, and since it appeared to have a dropper style opening, decided to proceed with a judicious amount of caution by putting in one drop per mug of chocolate, for starters. I chivalrously offered to drop some in Ali’s cup first, and managed to get about 6 drops in before I could move my hand. Almost immediately I could smell the fresh peppermint scent. After taking a sip of the beverage, Ali made some interesting noises and suggested that perhaps this stuff was a bit strong. I bent over to take a whiff of her drink, and was immediately and thoroughly “cleaned out” - you could have eaten off my bronchioles! I then decided to lick a bit of the oil off of my finger. I rapidly deduced, between coughs, that “Peppermint Oil” was perhaps not quite the same sort of thing as “Peppermint Extract” and decided not to add a drop to my own drink. Unfortunately, at this point, my right eye began to itch, so I rubbed it with my finger, and then proceeded with some urgency to the sink to attempt to wash out of my eye the oil I had just rubbed into it. After a few minutes of this diverting activity, I dried off my head and went blinkingly about the kitchen getting new water and new hot chocolate for Ali, and rummaging in the cupboard for something labeled “Extract.”