The Joy of Baking...Soda

It happened last night. A revelation. At 3:30 am.

Flash forward...to 6:30 pm, when AJ and I were enjoying a carbo-load FEAST. White pasta, tomato sauce, and garlic. Lots and lots of garlic, both on bread and in the pasta sauce.

"We're going to have the worst heartburn ever," we joked. "And yes, of course I'll have more wine!"

Bad idea.

Heartburn is one of those things that sneaks up on you as you age. When I was 23, I could eat garlic, salsa, chocolate, even jalapenos without trouble! I could wash it down with 2 glasses of red wine without a second thought! Hell, I could even drown a piece of bread in peanut butter and laugh in the face of danger. But now, I'm intimidated by apples and tomatoes. Isn't that pathetic?

So, needless to say, I was livin' on the wild side with all that garlic, tomatoes, and wine. I knew it was coming....

.....3:30 rolls around. I sit up in bed with my chest on fire. I should've been able to expect it but did I pay attention? Nope. Smooth.

What to do? I initially went straight for the Tums with a plan to douse the fire in a triple-dose of cooling heaven. But Tums taste like crap and are, in fact, not so good for you. Suddenly, a thought floats out of my sleepy-haze...the voice of a friend saying, "I HATE heartburn, but all I do to fix it is dissolve a 1/2 tsp of baking soda in a small glass of water. Drink it down and that fire goes right out."

I measured the surprisingly-awesome white powder and stirred in into my water, then tipped the whole thing back (it tasted a lot like Alka-Seltzer). RIGHT AWAY, my woes were over! I proceeded to enjoy 3 giant burps and went back to bed, congratulating myself all the way.

Who knew? I didn't. There are a multitude of uses for sodium bicarbonate, from cleaning your floors to treating itchy skin! Click here for a crazy long list of highly creative ideas (I like how "antacid" is the first on the list...why didn't I figure this out sooner?!??!)