of baking chickens, which causes many problems

We have internet now!

My current craving has been pizza, which I'm pretty sure I haven't eaten since before my wedding. Well, yesterday when I was out shopping I couldn't resist buying a couple of little pizzas so that I can satisfy my craving at lunchtime while Mark is working. Today I happily preheated the oven with eager anticipation... and then I noticed our little apartment was filling up with smoke.

This is not the first time this has happened (which means I shouldn't have forgotten about this possibility...) A little over a week ago I baked a chicken in the oven. Yes, this was my first time doing it, but I thought I knew what I was doing -- about the same as a turkey, right? and I've baked turkeys before. Well, when I thought this chicken was done, I peeked in and then shut the door to turn off the oven. As soon as I did -- "BOOM!" The whole oven actually shook a little, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. After a couple minutes I opened the door with some trepidation, and discovered grease coating the inside of my whole oven. It even ran out the bottom of the door onto the floor. The chicken was still intact -- the only thing I can imagine is that the skin burst somewhere, and let out a lot of hot grease.

Anyway, I haven't gotten to cleaning my oven yet, which has resulted in setting off the smoke alarm whenever I want to use it. Meanwhile, I'm not sure if I'll have the courage to bake another chicken again...