Progress

 I am extremely grossed out by raw meat. I hate it. Unless it's on some fresh sushi, I want nothing to do with it. That said, I baked a chicken yesterday. And not only did I bake it, I had my hands all over it. My BARE hands. Ew! But I find myself in the tightest financial situation I have ever been, and decided that whole chickens are more cost-effective than boneless, skinless breasts. I still hate raw meat, and am paranoid about salmonella. I washed my hands at least 5 times during the process. Not kidding.

 I looked up in "The Joy of Cooking" (which always just makes me think of "The Joy of Sex" but that's another story) about cooking whole poultry, and read the basic recipe. One method was to preheat the oven to 400 degrees, and then lower it to 350 immediately after putting the bird in. So that's what I did. But first I cut some nice slices off the lemon that gave up its zest for the ugly cookies (bless it) and stuck them under the skin. I sprinkled the cavity and with salt and pepper, quartered an onion and the rest of the lemon and stuffed them into the poor chicken, along with 2 bay leaves. Then I rubbed the outside of the chicken with olive oil and salt and pepper, and some tarragon as an afterthought. I didn't truss it because I didn't feel like it, and didn't have any cooking string. (Can't waste good yarn, either!)

 I was a good girl and basted it every 20-30 minutes while it was cooking, and tented some foil over it to prevent over-browning. Now, "The Joy of Cooking" said to allow about 20 minutes per lb, but after an hour and a half, my not-quite-4-lbs bird registered at only 164.2 on the meat thermometer. (It's supposed to be 165-170.) I decided it was close enough and cut off a wing for Henry, since he had to leave for class soon anyway. But when I cut into the white meat, it looked questionable, so I put it back into the oven for about 20 more minutes. I may have slightly overcooked it that time, but in my opinion, it's better to have slightly overcooked meat than food poisoning. It was still pretty good, and that's coming from a girl who hates eating meat off the bone and doesn't much like skin.

I always feel awkward about my sign-off, so that's why I usually just don't have one. I'm not as witty as Ethel. So, Bye!