totally fried for the fourth

 it was the fourth of july, it was hot-really hot and we headed out to the 5th annual hot chicken festival.  unless you live around music city, you may not know what hot chicken is.  first of all, the word hot has nothing to do with the temperature that the chicken is when it is served.  it is all about the hot sauce that the chicken is dipped in after it is fried.  kind of like hot wings but better.  the chicken is always breaded by hand just before frying and it can either be tenders or cut chicken with bones.  after the chicken is deep fried, it is dipped in a hot sauce that can merely singe your taste buds or send smoke out your ears-beware, this ain't no sissy chicken!  even the "mild"ones will challenge you so unless you have an asbestos lining your digestive tract, think twice about asking for "hot" and you just might want to bypass the "extra hot" altogether.

it was a hot and sunny morning-over 90 and if you didn't slather yourself in sunscreen, you got burnt-like me...this was the view at 11am in east park.  each tent housed a hot chicken vendor and while some lines weren't too long, others circled the green.

 speaking of long lines, the line for princes literally circled the park and if you dared to join it, you waited at least an hour for chicken and in the mean time, you too were fried in the sun.

 we waited in line at our chosen vendor and people watched-at least one young woman passed out from the heat.  it was almost like entertainment-we watched as they tried to fan her as they waited for medical help.

 if only all of us could look as cool as this little fellow-he didn't seem to mind the heat at all

 most of us felt like this poor little girl; hot, sweaty and in search of a shady place to sit.  and let's not forget barbies friend-how humiliating to be dragged around by her hair...

 not every vendor sold hot chicken.  the dog of nashville did what they do best-hot dogs and for those not wanting to wait or in need of a snack while they waited, the hot dogs were ready and the line was short.

 keeping the dogs coming...

 we chose to purchase our chicken from pepperfire since their line was a lot shorter than others.

 coating the chicken in the chosen hot sauce.

 breading and frying each piece to order

 medium in the rear, mild in the front but honestly-how could anyone tell?

 mild-too much for this light weight!  i only ate about half and gave up, it was too hot for me.

 the coveted amateur trophy

a look at the competitors-they take it seriously and all worked hard in the heat

 the winners-congratulations nick worley

we enjoyed it but not the heat.  and speaking of heat, darry was thinking that medium wasn't such a good idea after all...glad i went with mild.