Parting is such sweet sorrow...

As I've mentioned before, our Juliette turned out to be more of a Romeo, so about 3 weeks ago we pulled a Queen of Hearts (get it? "off with her head!")  Sorry for my lame literary references but how do you make light of slaughtering your most beautiful bird?

I will say that it was a much more peaceful experience than I had anticipated as the rooster didn't make a peep...he simply closed his eyes and accepted his fate, as if he knew that this was what he was meant to do.  We used THIS video as our guide and Jeff's brother, Chris, came over to assist.  I have some video footage that I think should remain off the world wide web...but if you're interested I can show you the next time you're over.

Above we are dipping the rooster into hot water which allows the feathers to be removed easily...it was amazing how well it worked, but what they don't really tell you is that the skin still has the beginnings of feathers stuck just below the surface and you have to squeeze them out...which is pretty gross.  The one saving grace is that after the feathers have been removed you no longer feel like you've just slaughtered your pet...it just looks like a normal chicken you buy at the store...however, I may have lost my appetite for chicken.

Jeff had me remove the innards and that was probably my favorite part...I'm a want-to-be surgeon, what can I say?

We cooked him up using my Dad's chicken and noodle recipe and though I overcooked the skin, it really wasn't bad.  In fact, Wes seemed to enjoy it even more than he typically cares for chicken.  He actually said, and I quote, "Hi Juliette, I'm going to eat you" and he chomped it down like a champ.

I won't say I could get used to this but I am proud of the fact that we truly embraced the whole circle of life...we hatched our dinner from an egg!