Eating Out

forty one feed store

Good evening, ya'll. It is not too cold and not too hot but just right tonight and rain coming tomorrow. It looks like it will be a good day to stay inside and piddle around. Since I retired it seems I do a lot of piddling around and some of it productive and some is not but I earned every "piddling minute."

We are excited that we have a new restaurant in Adel where we can eat out. One of hometown boys and one by marriage of an Adel young lady have opened a restaurant here. What is amazing is that they have both graduated from Atlanta Culinary Institute and are real chefs! I don't think I have ever, or to my knowledge, eaten food cooked by a real chef and we are looking forward to the experience. I'm wondering if they wear those tall, white hats but I kinda doubt it in Adel. That would cause quite a stir.

You see in our little town we have mostly chain eating place - McDonalds, Hardees, Waffle House and you get the picture. We have a few locally owned places such as Carter's Fried Chicken (very good), The Impire (no I did not misspell it), The Three Crazy Chicks and AJs to name most of them. These are good places to eat but only the new one has real chefs and I am impressed.

The name of the new place is called forty one feed store. I have written it just like they do and what is so unique is that it once was a feed and seed store and I have bought garden seed there many years ago. It is also on highway 41 and right in town which will make it convenient for everyone.

If you wonder why I am so excited about a good place to eat it's because we were raised in a small, South Alabama town which didn't have many cafes or eating places. Plus it cost money and we had enough but had really frugal parents and eating out was a real treat for us. Mostly we ate out when we went to the big city of Selma and couldn't get home for dinner (lunch.) We would usually stop on the way out of town at the Dairy Queen and get a foot long hot dog with chili and an ice cold coke. That was grand eating to us for mama didn't cook many hot dogs.

The cafes I remember were Journey's End, Hall's Sundries and Cafe, Albritton's Drugstore and many eons ago, Mr. Clark Jone's drugstore. Journey's End was on the edge of town and was where all the young people went at night. It had good hamburgers and french fries, a jukebox and owners who kept a close watch on our behavior. We knew if we misbehaved they would call our mamas and we didn't want that for Southern mamas are notorious for their behavior modification which involved the sitting down area of our bodies. Many dates ended at Journey's End and fun was had by all.

Hall's was in town and was not open at night but it was our hang out in the afternoons after school. If I was lucky enough to have a reason to stay in town and wait on daddy to get off from work to go home, Hall's was where everybody gathered. If you were lucky you could make 1 coke last for hours for that was usually all the money I had and most of the others also. It was a place to talk, flirt, break up, make up and all was watched closely by Mr. and Mrs. Hall. Again, misbehavior would be reported to the mamas so you behaved if you had a mama like we did. It was a friendly place and the Halls were wonderful to us and raised us up as their own.

Albritton's drugstore was the place where you could get delicious milkshakes and fountain cokes with a squirt of cherry. While you waited on your prescription to get filled you could enjoy a cold coke or ice cream. It also had most anything else you wanted as far as sundries, cards, magazines, and on and on. This was a place where I could spend hours looking and looking and wishing and wishing and wanting. Our daddy used to say that "wants" wouldn't hurt you and that was our motto. Didn't stop us from wishing and wanting.

These places are no longer in Camden and I miss them. In fact all these wonderful people have gone on to heaven but they were good friends and were a wonderful part of our growing up in small town Alabama. These places were wonderful to explore and eat in but mostly a place to meet friends and have a good time.

Now you see why it is exciting for me to have a new and very special place to eat. We plan to try it out this weekend and Jon and Ian we wish you all the best and glad you are back home.

Nuff said,

The Georgia Peach (They didn't pay me for the free advertisement, I'm just proud of them)__________________________________________________________________