PLENTIFUL PEPPERS

I was still rubbing the sleep out of my eyes as I was walking into the kitchen when my husband Steven and son Alex came in the back door.

“Where have you two been?” I asked not even looking up.

“We were in the garden.” Alex said.

“Look at this!” Steven was holding out a tray of bell peppers.

I tried to stifle a yawn as I looked up. “Wow!” I reached for my tea kettle. “That’s a lot of peppers.”

“Oh, that’s not the half of it.” Alex said as he stood with his hands behind his back. “There’s just as many still on the plants outside!”

I put the tea kettle under the faucet and filled it up. “Remind me to pick up some onions at the store later and I’ll make batches of peppers and onions that I can freeze.”

“You won’t have to go to the store for those.” Alex smiled as he took his hands from behind his back and held out a half dozen onions. “We have those, too!”

“Oh…” I put the kettle on the stove. “I guess I can make them this morning then.”

“No problem.” Steven said as he took the tray over to the sink. “I’ll wash them up.” He looked over at Alex. “Why don’t you grab a cutting board and a knife?”

Alex went over and got the cutting board and put it on the counter top while Steven began rinsing the dirt off the peppers and onions.

I was leaning against the counter top, waiting for my tea water to boil, watching them get everything I’d need to begin cooking.

When Steven was finished rinsing everything he placed them on the cutting board, got out a frying pan and placed it on the stove while Alex took a knife and the olive oil out.

“Looks like we got everything.” He said as he came over and gave me a kiss on the forehead. “This is going to be great!”

He and Alex walked out of the kitchen while I was still leaned against the counter top waiting for my water to boil.

I looked over at the pile of peppers and shook my head. “Five minutes ago I was rolling out of bed with no idea I’d be cooking enough peppers and onions to last the winter.” I sighed.

I put my hair up in a ponytail and rolled the sleeves of my bathrobe up to my elbows.

Forty-five minutes later Steven came into the kitchen where I was standing at the stove sauteing the last batch.

“The house smells amazing!” He said as he looked over my shoulder and grabbed a pepper out of the pan. Blowing on it for a second he popped it in his mouth. “They taste so much better right out of the garden, don’t you think?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I haven’t tasted one yet.” I stirred the peppers one more time before tapping the wooden spoon on the side of the pan and putting it on the spoon rest.

“I can’t believe you haven’t tried one yet! I would think the smell alone would have you wanting to eat a whole bowl of them!”

I looked over at Steven and sighed as I shook my head. “I haven’t even had a cup of tea yet.” I reached over and felt the side of the tea kettle. “Well, that’s gotten cold.” I took it back over to the sink, dumped the cold water out and refilled it. Placing it back on the burner I turned it on and looked over at Steven. “Can I ask you a favor?”

“Sure!” He went over and got my favorite mug out of the cabinet and placed it next to the stove.

“The next time you go out in the garden and bring in a haul like this…” I pointed to the dozen freezer bags filled with cooked peppers and onions. “Can you at least wait until after I have a cup of tea and wake up first?”

Steven nodded his head as he reached into the pan and grabbed another pepper. “That seems fair.”

“Thanks.” I went over to the canister that held my tea bags and took on out. “I’d appreciate that.”