Chicken for Chicken Curry

This afternoon I felt the desire to make chicken curry for my dinner.  I asked my wife if we had any chicken and she said no. 

“Go to the store across from Nanay.” She said.

I knew the place.  It was a little sari sari store.  Smaller than ours.

“They sell chicken there?” I asked incredulously.

She assured me they did.  So I headed off, down Reconie street.

The sari sari store she sent me to was really tiny.  And cute.  Little more than the window to the house with a few vegetables sitting on a counter out front.  It was raining a bit and I stooped to get under the awning.  I stood there in front of the store window waiting.

"Crystal May!"  From behind me across the street I heard my sister-in-law call out a name.  The owner’s name I presumed.  My sister-in-law must have seen me waiting.  And yes, in a moment a little old lady appeared at the window.

Crystal May.

“Do you have Manok?” I asked her.  Manok is chicken in Tagalog.  One of the few words I know.

She squinted her eyes at me, for a second, and then said, “It’s frozen.”

“That’s OK, " I said, "I just want to get a piece.”  and patted my thigh like just a piece.

She gave me a lop-sided grin, “You want the leg?” she asked and laughed wryly.

“Yah,” I said smiling.

She disappeared for a moment and then returned with a frozen half chicken.

I looked at it.  It was a little more than what I had wanted but whatever, “That’s great.” I said.

“You want me to cut it?”  she asked.

“Sure, that would be perfect.” I answered.

She pulled out a meat clever from somewhere and tried to cut the bird with it, but the meat was frozen solid.  After a couple of tries she put the clever down and disappeared. 

Then she returned with a full-on black machete.

“Good God” I thought.

She took a big swing with the machete.  And Whack!  The chicken was in two pieces.

“Wow,” I said, in amazement.

She weighted the chicken quarter and said to me, “70 pesos.”

I gave her the 70 pesos and she handed me the chicken.

Dinner was looking good.

 

Calbayog City  2022

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