Seafood and Squemishness

Ok, we have covered the topic of Minnesota seafood, but I wanted to add a bit more on the subject because I am rather impressed with myself and that doesn't happen very often.  Especially in the kitchen.
Yesterday was Thursday and the seafood truck guy came back with his truckload of seafood.  I ordered another filet of sea trout because it was divine and asked what else he would recommend, considering the list he rattled off struck no center of recognition for me and fish types (there was a yellow something, I don't know...).  He said the best thing on the truck were the prawns.  I think he called them king prawns or some such thing.  I asked how to prepare and cook them and he gave me good and thorough instructions, so I took my bag of prawns and sea trout happily back to my cabin and prepared for dinner.
Prawns.  With their heads on.  Complete with eyeballs...and antenna...and legs.  Oh my.
Step one:  cut off the head.  You cannot see my face right now as I recall just that moment, but rest assured I am grimacing quite severely and  trying not to gag.  I poised the knife above its legs and chop.  OH!!  Oh great googly moogly!  A large spatter of orange goo burst forth from the prawn, its beady black eye looking up at me with disdain.  I swallowed, rinsed the knife, vowed I would not vomit, and continued.
Step two:  remove the legs and shell.  Here is where I have visions of my children's pet hermit crabs crying as I pull off their legs.  I remind myself these things are dead and God gave them to us for food, so they don't feel bad, and I shouldn't feel bad.  I pulled off their legs and the shell attached to it.  Now the fish truck guy said to pinch the tail and the bottom bit of the prawn should squirt out of the bottom, and it did.  That part was fun.
Step three:  rip out the entrails.  Prawns have a black intestinal track running the length of the outside of their body.  You simply slice your knife down the back and flick out the offending black bit.  Yeah, right.  That black bit is sticky and a bit gross and does not want to come out without a fight.  Then I noticed another black stripe on the inside curve of the prawn and cut that out, too.  I rinsed the prawn off in cold water and set it aside.  One down, three to go.  So far I have not thrown up.
On my second try, I did find the sweet spot behind the head to avoid the orange burst of guck.  All four prawns cleaned and ready and no vomiting.  I am rather pleased with myself at this point.  I usually can't cut apart a raw chicken without gagging.  The final test:  can I cook the things and actually eat them now that I have witnessed and participated in their butchering?
I cooked the prawns in a hot pan with butter, salt and pepper, having no garlic to hand, and ate them on a bed of rice.  They were delicious!  They were the most flavorful shrimp-type things I had ever eaten.  It made shrimp from Red Lobster compare to raw rubber bands.  And I like shrimp from Red Lobster...especially the coconut shrimp.
I will say as a final caveat, I did have to concentrate on enjoying the flavor of the prawns while trying not to think about what I just did to keep from gagging.  But I ate them and enjoyed them.

I have purposefully not included photos for the comfort of my readers.