Chicken Dinner with giblets in Hand-Hell

I was excited to have a friend from my dad's days teaching at the law school joining us for dinner, so it seemed festive to roast a small chicken with a few potatoes. And it was nice - in theory, and practice a successful meal, but the preparation was an afternoon in Hand-Hell.

The chicken I buy usually come with their innards packaged in a small paper bag in the chest cavity. I discovered this handsome 5lb bird came still partially frozen (blue fingers!) with all the entrails lodged icily inside the bird, requiring fingertip raking to remove the nasty bits.

My fingers went numb, the blue and white crepe paper flesh looking cadavery and utterly unappetizing. Hopefully the company will think the healthy gal cooked - the one that comes in the afternoons to help with dad. Who wants to eat a meal prepared by fingers that look like this?

Gloves. They help for a while, but latex and any rubberized material where the skin can't breathe - well, it gets ugly. The flesh waterlogs and falls off, making the situation even worse. Cotton 'manicure' gloves are my 'go-to', but it isn't sanitary to handle raw chicken with them. Because eeeeewww.

Would you care to join us for dinner... in Hand-HEll? You're cooking!

(C) 2019 Hand-Hell

Why don't you stay home and wear oven mitts?

Yesterday, I roared in pain getting an item out of my purse while we were driving to the store. It was a quiet day with snow covering the Seattle streets, we didn't have music playing so my scream scared my sweetie and the little dog.

"Why don't you just stay home and wear oven mitts?" he suggested, halfway seriously. My sweetie is a saint of a tolerant man and I am grateful he tolerates my long winters.

If I could stay home, I would. But as 'women of a certain age' will understand, I am responsible for the care of others. My 83 year old father had a massive hemorrhage years ago, I moved in to care for him when my mother died three years ago. He dresses and showers on his own, but I am entirely responsible for meals/finances/medication, pretty much everything. Help comes part-time during the week, but she has been on hiatus for two weeks for personal reasons.