Kitchen Lessons Learned

My mom always made a valiant effort to impart her cooking wisdom to me as I was growing up, but I never felt compelled to listen or pay attention. As a result, my family usually puts up with dull, simple, and sometimes inedible, meals. A comment (somewhat hurtful, but also pretty true) my husband made to me this past Thanksgiving season has inspired me to improve my cooking talents. Basically, he hinted that he wouldn't want to stay at home for Thanksgiving, because he would rather have good food (He will probably deny saying that, but I remember it clearly).
So, determined to follow a recipe without making any substitutions or changes, I decided to practice roasting a whole chicken. I had purchased the chicken with the intent of making chicken tortilla soup- I have had success in boiling a chicken. But, in the spirit of improving my kitchen skills, I ventured to learn how to roast it. Simple. Right?
First of all, I can't stand handling a raw chicken. Some of this stems back to a time in my youth when I was traumatized by seeing a headless, featherless chicken propped up in a dancing position on our kitchen counter (you had to be there). Instead of reaching my hand in to pull out the giblets (Eewww!!!), I just turned the chicken upside down and shook them out. Thankfully, they came out with ease. I was somewhat disturbed as I was handling Chicky McChickerson- yes, I named it- because it was roughly the same size and weight as Danica. The only part of the recipe I did change was out of necessity- I didn't have any string to tie the legs.
Finally, Chicky was ready to go in the oven. We patiently waited the hour and a half for it to cook, but the delectable smell made it so difficult. The timer went off and out came the beautiful bird. "Kids," I triumphantly called, for my sides had finished right at the same time, "bring me your plates." I cut into the breast, and it was so perfectly cooked. I had done it! I successfully roasted a chicken!
Then, I cut a little deeper.
Wait- is that juice pink?
Oh yeah! I forgot to let it sit for 10 minutes. That must be the problem. I'll just stick it back in for 5 more minutes.
Take two- still pink, and I notice that there is blood in the cavity.
What the heck?! I followed the directions! I quickly called Mom to see where I went wrong. "How big was the chicken," she asked.
"I don't know- about the same size as Danica, minus her head."
So, the main lessons I learned tonight are:
1) Cook 20minutes per pound, and
2) It is okay to eat all of the side dishes first, but when the main course is finally done, it is very anti climatic!