In the spirit of hotdog month, I’d like to let you know about the wieners of my youth; the wieners that still have my heart. I’m of course talking about Yocco’s “The Hot Dog King.” This is a regional Lehigh Valley chain, which may be why you’ve never heard of it before. My favorite part about it is that they serve Mrs. T’s pierogies, deep fried to sizzling-golden-brown-crunchy-on-the-outside-soft-and-fluffy-on-the-inside perfection.
Of course I adore their dogs as well; they serve them with “special sauce,” which is essentially a poor man’s chili, mustard and onions; pure heaven. That’s the standard, but of course they have other options for y’all fussy budgets. You can also pick up a “doggie bag” that has 12 buns, uncooked franks, some “special sauce,’ mustard and onions. Whenever we go up to Live-Free-Or-Die New Hampshire to visit my brother, we have to bring him a doggie bag (amongst other regional favorites). I’m drooling over the thought of Yocco’s good thing I’ll be up in Allentown on Sunday to get me some….
I am so tickled right now after reading an article about how soy has been linked to lower sperm counts. Eat more meat, guys!!!
Thank goodness for Kate! She informed me that tomorrow is hotdog day and in fact, July is hotdog month. I got so hungry for an all beef frank just thinking of it. You can read about it
here.
Speaking of hotdogs and awesomeness, I found this chick who makes the most adorable crocheted food items, including a hotdog.
Friday night, I had dinner with the Smith sisters at Bonjung Sushi in Collegeville. I was surprised at how good it is! Let me just say that it has taken me a while to warm up to sushi; it started with inari as a gateway, then I moved up to actual rolls. I’m still not into the sashimi or sushi jawns, I’m more of a maki/temaki kinda gal. Bonjung is a BYO, which is one of my favorite things about PA, the prevalence of the BYO. We started off with a Mudslide Roll, tuna & avocado topped with a mix of crunchy miso & spicy sauce, and a Rock n’ Roll, shrimp tempura, cucumber, spicy sauce with tobiko outside. (I read a little about tobiko and it sorta grossed me out, of course not enough to stop eating it).
We moved on to a variety of sushi, which I avoided. Keels brought some mini cupcakes, which we noshed with some green tea. I forget where she picked them up, but the bakery in question had pretty good red velvet (a rarity that I cherish). I highly recommend Bonjung; it’s the best sushi I have found in this butt pile of strip malls and fast food chains I call home.
Since tonight marks another family meal, I thought it might be a good thing to post about last week’s family meal: School Lunch. It was pretty much awesome, despite the grumblings from Liz about how awful school meals are.
We had a disgustingly large selection of food. Liz made some triple decker peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwiches for an appetizer/dessert. She also was in charge of the tater tots. Mike made “pizza bobs” which was marinara sauce on a roll covered in a slice of provolone cheese; this was probably my favorite dish of the evening. He also made potato chips by hand without a mandolin! I was very impressed. 
I was in charge of fake chicken fingers, fake buffalo fingers, and the “pasta bar,” which was my favorite day when I was in high school. Rich brought the beer and Andrew ate and brought sweet sectioned plates. We were down a few people, but it was still a good night. We couldn’t decide what to listen to, so we went without music. I would have played the Smiths and/or any number of Brit pop bands cause that’s the stuff I listened to in HS.
In other news, I am obsessed with my garden! I have green tomatoes and the tiniest little hot peppers, banana peppers, and my eggplants just started pop out. I can’t wait to harvest. I’m getting a little too antsy perhaps. I have enough basil to make a small batch of pesto, which I intend to do asap.
I’m fucking fuming from reading this article. With each passing day, I hate corn more and more. I’m not talking about your roadside sweet corn, I’m talking that evil #2 industrial, cattle-poisoning, earth leaching, oil using, look-at-me-I’m-ethanol, no end in sight corn. Fuck it. I’m angry. “Natural” indeed. Ha!
Sorry about the cussing.
So, one of the perks and hazards of this job is that I get to taste all sorts of chocolate. Usually, they are enjoyable and all is well in my mouth. Today we got in some chocolate for analytical testing (yeah, I do that) and I tasted it, all I can say is holy barf city! I want to point out that this is NOT something we make. I don’t know if I can quite describe the funk, but I shall do my best; it sort of tasted like musty old Chinese food with butt loads of sugar. The last time I was that offended was when I tasted chocolate from Mexico that tasted like the beans were scraped from under a donkey claw, sat in a rank bean silo until it molded, then they made some chocolate out of it. (I know donkeys don’t have claws, but I like saying “donkey claw” so there).
I can’t stop snacking on our 54% organic chocolate! It’s soooo good. We make it with a blend of Hispaniola and Arriba liquors. Hispaniola comes from the Dominican Republic and is a fermented bean, which gives it its characteristic flavor notes of brown fruits, fresh fruit and even sweet tobacco. The DR also has an unfermented bean called Sanchez, which lacks any distinguishing flavor notes. Arriba comes from Equador and tastes floral, almost honey-like, and sometimes has fruity notes. I literally need to walk away from my desk to stop eating this chocolate. Which I intend to do right……….now
This past Wednesday night, we had Italian family dinner night. A little Frank Sinatra, some crepe soup, garlic bread, red pepper pizza, white broccoli pizza, garlic white wine noodles, and corn (hey, it’s in season and delicious).
For dessert, we had lemon water ice with vodka. Nice little family night! I’m particularly excited about our upcoming family meal; I won’t say exactly what it is, but don’t be surprised if there are individual drinks in cartons.
Remember when I said I’d be better about posting? I lied, but I’m trying. I’ve been really busy with work and the bridal shower, which is over after much planning and anxiety. And if you were wondering what the preferred brunch beverage is for the elderly on a hot summer day, it’s mimosas. I was of course sucking down Bloodies.
So, we’ve been having “family” dinner nights at the church, and when I say church I mean where I live. Jean nearly shit herself when she thought I’d found God. And in some ways, she’s right — He’s at the bottom of a bourbon bottle and I pray to him often. It started off with just me, Mandrew & Rich, which turned into Mike, Liz, Mandrew & Rich, which is now those four, Clarke, Mary and Mike’s momma.
Last week we had a “Southern Fried Night.” Seitan fried “chicken” with rodeo ranch, mashed potatoes, mac’n’cheese, corn on the cob, biscuits and 2 types of cobbler for dessert-assorted stone fruit and blueberry. It was my first attempt at cobbler and I cheated by using frozen pie shells, get off my nuts! It turned out pretty good, but I think I can perfect it. We noshed Virginia peanuts for an appetizer while preparing the food, and listened to the Hackensaw Boys and Dolly Parton all the while, drinking bourbon. I likes mine with ginger ale. Topping off the evening was a screening of Gummo, aka the sickest movie I’ve ever seen. That spaghetti in the bathtub scene makes me want to throw myself down a flight of stairs.
Last night we had Italian night, which was amazing and I’ll be posting about that asap.
