Chicago (style dog) Represent

Tonight, after going to the beach with Luz and Sean, I managed to pack away another 2 dogs for the project. Both of them were more than acceptable today. I went with the Chilean style dog (mayo, ketchup, avocado) and the Chicago style dog (if you don't know what that is, you should stop reading and go school yourself, but I'll provide you with the diagram anyway).

My dill pickle is hidden under the dog itself. That bun was getting pretty crowded. Please note in the chart above that ketchup is a no-no.

I would have to say that the best thing about the Chicago do inarguably is the hue of that relish. Seriously. It is amazing. The secret ingredient is Blue #1.

6 down. 74 to go.

Let the punishment begin!

So I downed another two hot dogs for the Around the World in 80 hot dogs project. Bon Appetit listed the following:

Korea: kimchi and pickled cucumbers
Vietnam: sriracha, cilantro, shredded carrot.

After an unfortunate discovery involving humidity and my regular hot dog buns, I had to use my poppy seed buns. Please note that my Korea dog does not have the pickled cucumbers. Those things are gross. I bought them and I tried one. I didn't swallow it. Luz said it had a boogery saltiness...All I know is that they were pretty gross. My exact words: "This is just plain foul!" The dog with the kimchi only wasn't much better. But, because I am a trooper I forced myself to eat it.

The Vietnam dog was also deserved the stamp of failure. This one may be my fault though, because I did get a little over the top with the sriracha. My lips were on fire. Luckily, i had MILK!

These are definitely two dogs I will NOT be eating again. Pickled cucumbers be damned!

4 down, 76 to go.

Watch as I attempt to eat 80 hot dogs in one summer

And no, I'm not going to do it all Takeru Kobayashi style. Bon Appetit has this thing in their most recent issue called "Around the World in 80 Hot Dogs" where they suggest 80 different hot dog variations. I decided, because I like punishment, that I was going to do it. Some of them sounded really nasty though, so I took them out, did a lot of internet research (thank you wikipedia) about regional hot dog styles, and have set out to eat 80 different hot dogs. You know what aggravates me? They left off the Chicago style. Bastards. Anyway, last night, Luz and I made some hot dogs (hers were Ball Park, mine were Hebrew Nationals (which are by far, the best hot dogs ever). Working with things I already had around the kitchen, I went with the Peking (hoisin and green onion) and the Japan (which called for wasabi and mayo, but when you have Kewpie wasabi mayo, I think you're pretty much covered. They were both pretty decent.

I also took the dry erase calendar that we got to keep track of bills but never use, and turned it into my official hot dog tracker:

2 down, 78 to go.

Every little thing I do is magic

Made these for the monthly birthday celebration at work. Chocolate cupcakes baked in wafer cones and topped with basic vanilla buttercream and star shaped sprinkles. I pondered making a swiss buttercream, but at 11:30 at night, I just didn't have the energy.

I saw this idea in an issue of Gourmet or Bon Appetit a couple years back and have wanted to make them since. I probably won't do it again though. While the cake was very moist and the frosting was amazing (as usual), the cones took on a somewhat stale consistency during baking. No one else complained about them, but I was not satisfied.

In the end, I triumphed because they were still adorable. One of my coworkers said that her daughter had made them for her daughter's birthday but instead of using the wafer cones, she baked them in waffle dishes, and did not have the stale cone problem. I may have to try that.

Muffins Vol. 2

Muffins are a delicious and filling breakfast food. But when I think of muffins and/or breakfast foods, I usually do not think about chocolate. In fact, that's the last thing that I would think of. I don't understand people and the whole chocolate chip pancake thing. That just sounds kind of repulsive to me. But then again, I'm one of those people who won't eat anything breakfast-y before after the breakfast eating hours (11:30 am), and i usually don't eat anything not breakfast-y before 11:30. BUT, in my dedication to Alton Brown and his kitchen wisdom, I've committed myself to making every recipe from his baking book, cover to cover. I did the 'Old School Muffin' a couple weeks back, and this time around it's 'Chocolate Muffins #7). I did make a few minor alterations (used 2% instead of buttermilk, decreased the vanilla, used half semi-sweet chips, and half white chocolate chips). Once again, I used the large muffin tin, to make 6 large muffins instead of 12 regular sized ones. The baking time was increased substantially because of this. The finished product was nice and moist and encouraged me to drink A LOT of milk because of house rich they were. Unfortunately, they weren't much to look at:

Chocolate Muffins #7
Adapted from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food
2 c. all purpose flour
0.75 c. cocoa powder
1 Tbsp. baking powder
0.50 tsp. baking soda
0.50 tsp. salt
1.25 c. sugar
1 stick melted butter, slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 c. 2% milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
0.50 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
0.50 c. white chocolate chips.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease muffin tin. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together sugar, butter, eggs, milk, vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Divide batter into muffin tin, cups should be full. Place in oven and increase temperature to 400 degrees. Bake 18-20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Alton recommends tipping the muffins onto a cooling rack as soon as they come out of the oven, to give the bottoms a kind of crust, but I don't really like that, and leave them in the pan to cool.

The muffins are decent at room temperature, but much better warm, with a BIG glass of milk.

Other projects I have going on right now: my take on Bon Appetit's latest issue's "Around the World in 80 Dogs". Some of the ideas just sound repulsive and unbearable, so I switched them up, and added the Chicago style. I can't believe those bastards left it out!! Also, coconut popsicles. I made them, but they're stuck in the molds....