Chicken Et Cetera

Last night, I finally ended my craving for Andok's lechon manok. I've been planning to buy one since more than two months ago but I hadn't really chanced an outlet. Last night, on my way home, via Malinta, Valenzuela, I saw an Andok's outlet. Seated in the front seat of a public jeepney, I noticed the outlet on the other side of the street. There were five or six people in queue. I tried to control myself. At the back of my head, however, I said, So this is my chance. But I never moved. A few seconds later, the dispatcher started collecting fare. It was then that I realized I didn't have small bills or enough coins to pay the 9-peso fare. All I had was a 500-peso bill and two 1-peso coins. The dispatcher didn't have enough change for the 500-peso bill. That was when I finally decided to step out of the jeepney, crossed the street, and joined the queue at Andok's. I bought 1 whole chicken; I requested it be chopped to dinner pieces. It cost me 249 pesos. This was the breakdown of the change: 2 hundred-peso bills, 2 twenty-peso bills, 2 five-peso coins, and 1 one-peso coin. With the yellow plastic bag containing the lechon manok, I crossed the street and rode the parked jeepney. It was a different jeepney. Inside the jeepney the delicious smell of the chicken filled the air. The three people before me in the queue were also inside the jeepney. Someone murmured, The smell makes me hungrier. Another one answered, joking, Open the bags now. Let's feast. Almost everyone in the jeepney giggled. I smirked.

Twenty minutes later, I was home. I steamed two cups of rice. The minute the rice was done, I set the table and had my dinner. It was hearty. It was very good. The chicken tasted better when dipped in a special vinegar (pinakurat). I didn't eat all the pieces; only more than quarter of the chicken. I stored the leftover in the ref.

That night, in my I sleep, I dreamt. In the dream, I looked like a famous cook. In the dream I was wearing a white apron. I was seated on a couch facing an array of empty chairs in a function room inside a bookstore. It appeared like I was to launch a book. The book was lying on the couch beside me. The title of the book, as I recall it, was Chicken Dishes et al. Then a bookstore attendant, also clad in apron, knocked, pushed the door, and entered the room. Through the partly opened door, a flock of chicken entered. They were running wildly. Some were flying erratically. Then the attendant said, Sir, the book launch is postponed. A typhoon is coming. Then I woke up.

The following day, this morning actually, I sauteed the leftover chicken with a a mix of vegetable - eggplant, okra, string beans and pechay. It was almost like a pinakbet with chicken sans fermented/salted shrimp. The preparation tasted just the way I wanted it. Delicious. I ate it with the leftover rice for breakfast and lunch.

As I write this, I'm still contemplating on what to do with the 2 chicken pieces still in the ref.