I'm (usually) No Chicken

So, I am still trying to get the hang of cooking here. I have no oven, I have a two-burner "magnetic conduction" stove, and the ingredients available at the store are very different. We have had some successes and a few failures. This one, though, was an experience.

Meat grosses me out. In general, not just here.

Some of you know about my lovely experience on trek (a youth activity where we learned about pioneers by reenacting part of their journey) with a chicken. I get a little shaky just thinking about it now. Each family (group) got a chicken that they had to..."take care of" so that they could eat that night. NO ONE in my group wanted to do it. So I found myself holding a live chicken by the feet--enough said.

I was traumatized.

It took a long time for me to get over this experience. Almost ten years later I decided to be domestic and start cooking a whole chicken in a crockpot. Mister LOVES it and I learned how to make chicken stock out of the bones. I thought this would be a nice meal to make for him here since I can find all of the spices I need and it would be a taste from home. I grabbed a packaged chicken from the meat section of the store and threw it in the freezer when I got home.

A few days later I got the chicken out and prepared to put it in the crockpot. I pulled it out of the bag and ALL of those trek-chicken feelings came reeling back at me.

The chicken had a head.
And it was staring at me.

Mister said I should take a picture to document the experience. I would rather forget it happened. :) I feel a little bit bad for making you see this, but it isn't too bad since the bag is still on it..

Mister heard my little screams and came in to the kitchen to see what was wrong. He looked at the chicken, chuckled, and patted me on the back. That was it. It was already getting late and I had no ingredients for something else, so I rubbed some seasonings on the chicken and tried to avoid the eyes that I just knew were looking right at me. (Thankfully, when the chicken was done Mister covered the head with his hands while I pulled the meat off). The dinner turned out fine, but I had a hard time eating anything.

In the US you can get a nice, plump chicken (head and feet removed) for $5. We spent about $2 on a skinny chicken that would barely feed 2 people.

Those chicken heads and feet must be very valuable.

Side Note: Mister says they probably really are. We were eating at a little restaurant when a lady came in and said hello to Miss A. As she left, she grabbed a fish head from a deserted plate and put it in her bag. Maybe I need to figure out what these things are used for!