An encounter with a feisty prawn

I love prawns and they're about the only other type of raw creature I dare to handle for cooking other than white fish fillet or cod fish.

But today, things changed.

Went to the supermarket on my way back from work to buy some groceries and ingredients to cook dinner cos Hubby was going to be eating dinner at home this evening. Hadn't bought prawns in a long time so I thought I'd get some to stir fry later on. I never had a problem preparing prawns for cooking -- removing their heads and legs and de-shelling them altogether etc. But guess what happened when I went home happily and wanted to deal with them? One of them started moving while I was trying to transfer it out of the plastic bag it came in! It freaked me out totally and I gave a scream, letting it slip out of my hand (that was protected by a disposable glove, as usual). It fell into the sink and continued to wriggle its legs, especially when I tried to touch it.

Then along came cheeky Hubby. He added water to the sink, wanting to see the prawn come fully alive... *grrrr* It's bad enough that I was going to cook and eat it later; I sure didn't wanna see it all moving before I murdered it! Ugh! He even joked that we could keep it as a pet! =.=!!

Couldn't bear to pick it up lest it started wriggling again, so I pleaded with Hubby to help me put it into a smaller bag to freeze with a few other prawns that I was going to save for future meals. When he tried to pick it up, the prawn gave a start and jumped right out of his fingers! A few screams -- mine -- then rang from the kitchen. After a few other attempts, he managed to pick it up by its feelers and drop it into the bag.

Sigh. Was so scared of having to de-shell the prawns that I set aside for this evening's meal cos they all looked so alive to me after the episode with the feisty one that I just boiled some water in a saucepan and got Hubby to place them all in to cook for a while. That was the first time I boiled prawns whole. Only after that did I dare to de-shell them before adding them to other items to stir-fry.

Don't think I'd be buying fresh prawns any time soon... =.=