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.

interesting challenge. Adult chicken fingers. I would think any good fried chicken recipe would work. Tossed in fresh herbs like thyme, rosemary, garlic, then some buttermilk for an hour...then the breading. A bit of parmesan in the crumb. I have to toast in a low oven my homemade frozen bread to get it dry enough to make crumbs. I always have panko in the freezer as a back-up. Very handy to have. We don't fry at home or ever breading and bake since we have it out and about...just sometimes a tiny bit of crumb after steaming and under the broiler a minute for a crisp herb and bread crumb toping. I made chicken fingers, fish sticks and veggie rice/grain balls a few years ago for kids and adults. (baked) My niece and nephew were tiny so that is over ten yrs ago, (time flies). The only thing that made it kid food was the ketchup bottle. Homemade tarter sauce for the adults. And a sesame soy ginger sauce as we grilled non-breaded seafood and shish-ka-bobs. I remember trying to avoid the hot dog and burger diet so common. Funny we are back to perfecting and embracing the burger and dog for weekend get-togethers. With many more veggie sides than the past.

That sounds right. :) I was in my 30's before I could name all the states of Australia and there aren't many. :) Before then, I knew New South Wales because I loved the double modifier and always wondered why North Wales was excluded, though I know there are cultural differences. :) I think I know all the provinces of Canada, but...okay, I just tried, but while I knew spaces I couldn't call to mind, I couldn't do it. Missed four. Blame sleep deprivation? But that's it for me. I know only a few of the states of Mexico and none of the Cantons of Switzerland, even though I've been there. Then again, the legend going around about the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta was that people called in to an advanced sales line from New Mexico to get tickets and were told that they only had tickets for people in the USA. I think pictures in media and air travel have made the map portion of geography instruction functionally obsolete (i.e., the people don't feel compelled to learn it).

"Anything with cream cheese Is my favorite." Hard to argue with that philosophy :-)) Cream cheese seems to be the ideal base for many kinds of dip. I remember a high school pal of mine and I making a simple but very tasty dip out of cream cheese and A1 steak sauce! That and a bag of chips got us through a lot of homework sessions. And look away guacamole purists as I used to add cream cheese to mine when making for a crowd at summer BBQ's. Kept the guac from discoloring and added to the richness but never overwhelmed the avocados. As I now make it almost exclusively for myself, no need to add the cr. cheese to stretch the dip and it gets eaten too fast for discoloring. But it absolutely has to have plenty of fresh lime juice, salt, garlic and some sort of spicy kick - cayenne, dried pepper flakes, a splash of hot sauce or minced jalapenos. In a pinch, some hot salsa will do. To be perfectly honest, I do not understand needing a recipe for a dip. Unless a very specific type of dip or spread, like pate. You just mix together what you think will taste good in suitable proportions. But then, I don't use many recipes for cooking anyway, except for baking. btw Lars, there are lots of recipes for crab dip that don't include cheese other than cream cheese. Seems like only the hot or baked versions include something like cheddar and I prefer my crab fresh and with minimal fussing so they would never top my list.