The Great Pigs Feet Quest

First just let me say that I don't care for pigs feet. I have tried them, and they are okay, but not something I really ever want to eat. Thomas, on the other hand, has always loved pigs feet, having grown up with eating them as a "treat". His father raised hogs, so every year there were fresh pigs feet during butchering time. Since we've been married he has regular cravings for them, usually twice a year -- once in the fall/winter and once in early spring.

Andrew, like me, does not care for pigs feet, but Eler Beth follows in her Daddy's footprints (and her Mamaw's) on this one. She, like Thomas, usually craves pig's feet a couple times a year. She and Thomas are easy to please, too, because they just want it boiled 'til it's tender and salted a little. It really is a "treat" for them, not a meal. So whenever they want it, I fix it, along with a "regular" dinner for the four of us. They eat it either with dinner or after, and I get to see them enjoying themselves with their sticky pig's feet.

My Mom loves pigs feet as well, and also as a "treat". Her father raised pigs, so when she was a kid it was something they had a few times a year. Like my husband and daughter she doesn't crave it often, but when she does she wants it right now! And she likes it prepared simply, but she also likes it with sour kraut. If my mother is visiting us in the winter I will usually make sure she gets pigs feet and sour kraut, and then I get to see the three of them sitting around the table, smacking their lips and licking their sticky fingers -- yes, pigs feet is a sticky dish!

So about a month ago I was at Kroger with Eler Beth looking at ham, and she saw some pigs feet. "That kind of sounds good," she said. I told her to get some, but she declined. We moved away and suddenly she said, "No, I think I do want them. They sound good." So she made some that night. When Thomas got in from work he had some, too -- said he'd kind of been craving them lately. So I figured that was the end of pigs feet for this season.

Wrong! A week or so later Thomas told me he was really craving pigs feet (this year his appetite has been strange), so I looked for some at Kroger. They had none. I tried Meijer. None. I tried Wal-Mart. None. Now when Thomas makes a specific request, I really do try to get and/or make him what he's wanting, because he doesn't ask for specific things for dinner or dessert very often. I could find NO pigs feet anywhere! I bought some ham hocks and asked if he thought they might help ease the craving. They did, but it wasn't the same.

A week later he wanted pig's feet again. None to be found anywhere!!!

Another week went by. He hadn't asked for any, but I knew he still wanted them, and it had become a mission! None to be found anywhere.

Last Saturday he woke up about 3 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep. So he went on a pigs feet quest. He checked out three Krogers, two Wal-Marts, and two Meijer's. At each one he mentioned to someone in the right department that he couldn't find pigs feet anywhere! He came home a sad, sad man.

That very afternoon I found myself in Wal-Mart. On a whim I checked the meat department, and lo and behold! Three packages of pigs feet!! They were still icy, like they'd just been brought out of the deep freeze. I bought all three and surprised Thomas with one package that night. Later in the week I was in Kroger and there were three packages of pigs feet. Today I was in our local Meijer, and there were three packages of pig's feet!

I guess it pays to ask for what you want. They all must have gone rummaging in their freezers!

So I have two packages in my freezer ready for the next craving to hit. I think the pigs feet cravings are going to be all wacky and out of sync this year -- just like the weather -- so I'd better stay prepared!