Last night we had a repeat of last weekend, with campfire pies, and s’mores over the fire. Tonight we had a fabulous meal. We made some hamburgers, brats, and hot dogs on the grill.

With sliced tomatoes, and onions fresh from the garden to go with them.

We also had some fresh strawberries, with a little sugar and whipped cream. Yum!

I took a few of the strawberries and put them on some oatmeal cookies with President’s Brie, to make a kind of makeshift appetizer.

Finally, we made some foil vegetable packs with mushrooms, baby red potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, pepper, and salt.

It was all very easy, with very little clean up after, but the meal turned out fabulous! We saved a little room for some marshmallows and s’mores over the fire later for dessert.

Images (c) L Gerlach

Post from: Blisstree

Grilling At The Lake

Hot dogs have been part of the national diet since 1870, when German immigrant Charles Feltman began selling sausages in rolls at Coney Island. Though the creation of the hot dog itself is long-disputed, with some claims going back as far as 1480, the summertime favorite was an instant hit in the States.

The original Feltman shop even spawned one of the more famous hot dog shops — Nathan’s Famous in New York City. Apparently, Nathan Handwerker, a Polish immigrant and a worker of Feltman’s, was encouraged by a couple of celebrity clients to start up his own place using a hot dog recipe created by his wife Ida, and he undercut his new competition by selling his dogs for only five cents each, whereas Feltman was selling his for ten cents each. [wikipedia]

Much like pizza, New York and Chicago both have a long-standing “feud” over who has the best food. Make a dog of your own and judge for yourself!

New York hot dogs are pretty simple. Typical toppings include only mustard, sauerkraut and sweet onions.

Chicago, on the other hand, goes all out, and can include any or all of the following:

~ Mustard
~ Catsup
~ Sweet relish
~ Chopped white onions
~ Chopped green pepper
~ Hot peppers
~ Dill pickle spears
~ Cucumber spears
~ Tomatoes
~ Shredded lettuce
~ Celery salt

What’s your favorite hot dog topping? What’s your favorite hot dog brand?

[image: flickr]

Post from: Blisstree

It’s National Hot Dog Month

Is there anything that hits the spot more than a hot dog on game day? With baseball’s Opening Day coming up Monday April 6th, I thought you might be interested to hear there is a group of people who think the hot dog should be included in the baseball staple song, “Take Me Out To The Ball Game.”

“Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” is another age old baseball tradition, who hasn’t sung that song during the 7th inning stretch? The Hot Dog Council thinks “Take Me Out To The Ball Game” should include America’s favorite baseball munch. Here’s what they have to say about it:

“Clearly, the omission of hot dogs was inadvertent because, as the story goes, the song’s author, Jack Norworth, wrote the song in 1908 but didn’t attend a baseball game himself until 1940. We are confident that if Mr. Norworth were alive today, he would agree to alter the verse and pay tribute to America’s cultural icon. Behind ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ and ‘Happy Birthday to You,’ ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ is the third most sung song in the United States and we think it should be updated accordingly for the next 100 years.”

What do you think? Should a 100 year old song be changed to include baseball’s favorite food?

For additional information, visit the Hot Dog Council.

Image via sxc.hu

Post from: Blisstree

Baseball and Hot Dogs

I guess cooking your processed meat tubes over a pile of burning sticks is old school. Especially when you’ve got the Solar Death Ray 3000, which focuses the sun’s rays so well, your hot dog will be ready in about 2.6 seconds.

The dude with the welding glasses looks like he’s having a little too much fun there doesn’t he? You can catch larger versions of these photos at Mike Elgan’s The Raw Feed here.

Post from: Blisstree

The Ultimate Solar Hot Dog Cooker!