Memories of a mother-in-law

[randy_byers]

The Self-Styled Siren memorializes her Lebanese mother-in-law. An incredibly moving piece of writing that's also very funny:

To go food shopping with Zahra was equal parts education and terror. My sister accompanied her to the Union Square Whole Foods and pulled me aside as soon as they returned. "I really like her," laughed my sister. "But man, she's tough. She was demanding that the guy at the poultry counter tell her how old the chicken was."

"What did he say?"

"He said, 'I don't know, ma'am. We weren't personally acquainted.' Zahra said that meant it was probably too old but we'd take it anyway."

Comments

[janetl.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely column. And a quick-witted butcher. ;^)

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Yeah, his reply totally cracked me up.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

This story reminds me of the guy who bought a frozen chicken and buried it in a pet cemetery. And the reason I'm reminded is because he didn't say it was a supermarket frozen chicken; he just said it was his pet hen who died. He brought it in in a shoebox, and they took it into the back room to prepare it for burial. After a minute the guy came back out and said, "Exactly how did your pet die?"

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

It almost seems that I've heard of Jeffrey Vallance before. Great story.

[spikeiowa.livejournal.com]

I have a good friend who refuses to eat chicken unless (1) she's slaughtered it herself or (2) she bought it at Whole Foods. How odd is life, n'est-ce pas?

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Still remember seeing headless chickens running around (briefly) on various family member's farms when I was a kid. And the smell of the feathers after they'd been scalded for easier removal. Then again, I've seen several pigs killed out on Yap before roasting, and that's not something you ever forget. They oughta do that in Whole Foods.