A Tribute to Henny Penny

When I was a little girl, I used to chase the chickens around at my mamaw's house. Sometimes, I would catch them and hold them upside down for a few minutes. When I would release them, they couldn't walk very straight. It was very entertaining. Please don't think I'm mean. I never hurt them :) One day, I found a chicken who would let me hold her. Every time I went to my mamaw's house, I'd find her, hold her, pet her, and carry her around. I named her Henny Penny. Something happened and she died...I think some kind of disease or something. Anyways, I thought of her this past week.

I'm not a huge meat eater in this place, especially if I have to buy it and cook it for myself. On the occassion I do buy meat, I go to a place where the meat is stored in a cooler and the guy just takes what I want out and gives it to me. However, one day I went to a different meat place because it was raining and I didn't want to walk to the other place.

This meat store has a cage of live chickens outside. Hanging in the doorway are a couple of dead, skinned chickens and goats. I ducked under them, and asked the meat guy for a chicken. I was thinking he would get me one of the ones hanging in the doorway, but I was wrong. The guy went outside and chose a chicken from the cage. He brought her in and asked if she was good. I said yes and he plopped her down on the scale. She was blinking her eyes...2 kg. Ok. So the guy took her around back and she began to make an awful noise...and then, she was quiet. When he brought her back, she had no feathers, no head, no skin, no liver.....but she was warm and her heart was still beating.

What to do? I took her home, washed her, and put her in a pot of boiling water...beating heart and all.

And then, I had a barbeque chicken sandwich. Thanks to Granny for her barbeque recipe. And thanks to the bakery for the bread. A quote from my roomie, "I like that lady's buns!"

haha.