RachelEllen, I know you didn't ask me, and Maria's description is wholly accurate, but there is an easier way to pluck chickens if one is plucking several at a time: Put a steel drum full of water on a brick platform and arrange a torch burner beneath it so the water comes to a rapid boil. Grab a (freshly killed) chicken by the feet with some loooong tongs and dip it in the boiling water for a few seconds, then fire up your plucking machine! There are different configurations for plucking machines, but ours was a motorized horizontal cylinder with soft rubber fingers protrubing from the drum. One holds one's scalded chicken by the feet above the spinning cylinder and it ever-so-gently pulls all the feathers off as it rotates quickly. It's the only really fun part of the process to be honest. More than ten chickens can be plucked this way in the time it takes to hand pluck one. As for slaughtering your own chickens, it can be done quickly and with dignity by just about anyone. Your best bet is to ask someone who has several (get a referral from the place that sells you your chicks) that need dispatching and ask to come help/learn.

This one might be similar to what you're looking for; I included the notes from the author. Piri-Piri Chicken by Steven Raichlen, Francine Maroukian/from Bon Appetit/July 2010 Piri-piri chicken is a spicy dish with roots in both Africa and Portugal. The dish was created in Angola and Mozambique when Portuguese settlers arrived with chile peppers (known as piri-piri in Swahili). Timing note: The chicken needs to marinate for at least four hours before being grilled. Bottled Piri Piri Sauce is available at specialty food stores and on-line. Glaze 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 2 garlic cloves, minced 2 tablespoons piri-piri sauce or other hot pepper sauce 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice Chicken 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 2-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled, thinly sliced 1 large shallot, peeled, quartered 3 garlic cloves, peeled 1/2 cup piri-piri sauce or other hot pepper sauce 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus additional for brushing 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 3 1/2- to 4-pound chicken, backbone removed, opened flat 1 11 3/4 x 8 1/2 x 1 1/4-inch disposable aluminum baking pan (to catch drips) For glaze Melt butter in small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add cilantro and garlic; cook until garlic begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add piri-piri sauce and lemon juice. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer 2 minutes. DO AHEAD: Glaze can be made up to 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm before using. For chicken Finely chop cilantro, ginger, shallot, and garlic in processor. Add piri-piri sauce, 1/4 cup oil, lemon juice, coarse salt, and pepper; process marinade to blend. Place chicken, skin side up, on work surface. Using palm of hand, press on breastbone to flatten chicken. Tuck wing tips under. Pour half of marinade into 11x7x2-inch glass baking dish. Open chicken like book; place skin side down in single layer in dish. Pour remaining marinade over. Cover; chill at least 4 hours or overnight, turning chicken occasionally. Remove top rack from barbecue. Prepare barbecue (medium heat). If using 2-burner gas grill, light 1 burner. If using 3-burner gas grill, do not light center burner. If using charcoal grill, light briquettes in chimney and pour onto 1 side of lower grill rack. Place disposable aluminum pan on unlit part of grill. Place upper grill rack on barbecue; brush with oil. Remove chicken from marinade. Arrange skin side up on grill rack above drip pan. Cover barbecue; grill until skin is browned and instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of thigh registers 165�F, turning often, about 40 minutes. Transfer to platter. Pour warm glaze over.

Speaking of trip advisor reviews, one of my favorites was for a restaurant in Paris. Almost all of the 300+ reviewers mentioned how they discovered this wonderful little restaurant, filled with locals and not tourists. First of all, didn't anyone notice 299 other people have already reviewed it so they really weren't the only tourist to stumble upon it. Second, unless you speak French and can differentiate regional accents, how do you know the other diners aren't French tourists, some hick from the sticks, and not an oh-so-glamorous-Parisian-from-the-hood? I'm sure many reviewers thought they blended right in and that the staff assumed they just moved onto the Rue. D'accord. I can't stand the baking bread smell from Subways. I usually LOVE baked bread and the aroma (swoon) but their smell is just wrong to me somehow, almost chemical? Besides that smell, I don't eat lunch meat or mayo based salads so I don't go there. My area doesn't have many of the above listed chains, because we're too small not because we have impossible food standards, so it's great I can file away a few names for future travel when I can't pack my own food. Last month while in NYC, we did eat at a Pret A Manger. And Magnolia Bakery (another swoon). I will eat at a Chipotle. I've noticed they definitely give my husband more food than they give me, which is fine based on our sizes, but it's also wrong based on we pay the same amount. I'm getting slightly cheated! It has happened more than once, in different states. It's bizarre.

We've had lots of discussions about the difference between stock and broth (not much, but "stock" usually refers to something used as an ingredient and broth is used to mean a finished rich plain soup). We also talked about why "bone" up topic. Some are made with mostly bones and are cooked a very long time to get the minerals out of the bones. Others are made with mostly meat or meaty bones and are cooked for less time, until the meat is all cooked out and what bones there are have yielded flavor but aren't soft and/or friable unless they're tiny. A third option is made with mostly bones and vegetables, but not cooked long enough to really pull all the minerals out of the bones. The first one is "bone" because it's about the bones. And often broth because it's meant to be consumed straight as soup.