One of my favorite things to do on the weekend is to make breakfast.  I am always on the lookout for the perfect recipe for belgian waffles.  I love waffles and I love tweaking recipes to get closer to perfect.  There are a couple that I love that come from cookbooks, but It is interesting to come up with my own variations.  I have to thank my cousin Joyce for the waffle iron that she sent me when I moved out here to Utah.  It has seen lots of use and made some tasty waffles!  Best served with bacon or sausages, lots of yum!

[recipe-show recipe=belgian-waffle-variation-1]

If you try it out, let me know what you think or what you would change.

Even though my girlfriend is off to France for the week I am still heading up to her family’s home for dimmer tonight.  It is going to be a Corned beef collaboration.  I love an excuse to make this corned beef recipe, and this seemed like a good one!  I hope that you all enjoy this recipe as well.  It pairs well with mashed potatoes and challah rolls.  If you try it out, let me know what you think!

[recipe-show recipe=nanas-corned-beef]

So, another crazy thing that that has come through the news is the fact that your hotdog may be in danger.  Everyone knows a hotdog, you may not like them , you may not want to know what is in them, but a hotdog is probably one of the most recognizable foods next to the hamburger.  The hotdog is the staple food of America’s favorite pastime, baseball (along with beer), as well as many summer activities.  What would the summer be without barbecues, hotdogs and hamburgers?

Well the hotdog as we know it is under attack, it is in danger.  Why, you ask?  Because after a couple hundred years as a food, people have decided that it is too easy to choke on a hotdog.  Yup, that’s right, the argument is that the shape of a hotdog make it too easy to get it stuck down your throat.  Specifically the throats of children under ten.  Just tell me though, with many young kids we cut up most of their food, so what is different about hotdogs?

The proposal?  Well there are two.  The first is to change the shape of the hotdog.  I am not sure how that would be accomplished, but it seems that if nothing else it would make the hotdog a less friendly food.  I just can’t really picture say a triangle hotdog.  I mean how would you get that on a hotdog bun, or would that have to be redesigned as well?  The second option is to put warning labels on the packaging of hotdogs akin to toys with small parts.  The real question with this option is: is it really effective?  Personally I would be fine with this approach as I like my hotdogs the way they are!

Of curse, this whole debate begs the question: what makes a hotdog different from other long, round foods?  I mean is it actually easier to choke on a hotdog than a banana, cucumber, or pickle.  I mean, I suppose many kids don’t actually eat their fruits and veggies, but I don’t see difference.  Do we need to start genetically engineering bananas so that they don’t grow long and thin?  Maybe every pickle needs to be stamped with a warning that it is a choking hazard?

I don’t know about everyone else, but I think that the hotdog is just fine the way it is.

I am actually not entirely sure where everyone is.  I know that Dan and Dad went out do deposit Dan’s check and do some shopping, but I am not sure where my mother is.  I though she was home.  We are supposed to make potato latkes today.  I am kinda looking forward to that.  i am also looking forward to seeing Jesi and going over the BU theatre to see “Radium Girls.”

In the mean time I have been killing time helping my dad set up a blog (which he will probably never really use) and messing with the format of mine.  My formatting is still a work in progress, but I have been learning a lot about CSS and customization.  I may just need to build the page from the ground up to really learn it ad make it my own.  I think that I spent way too much time in front of the computer yesterday working on it.  Had fun though.  I was using my dad’s iMac, which really made me want one.  I need a computer with a huge screen!

Possibly one of the best things about being home is good food.  Last night we had great fish, Hake, I think, and sweet potato fries.  It really doesn’t get much better than that!  Well, that might not be true because after dinner we walked up the street to Cabot’s to get ice cream sundaes.  Yeah, my mother won a bet with my dad and we all got sundaes.  Then this morning I woke up to the smell of bacon cooking.  Bacon bagels and eggs, what a breakfast.  We are also making loads of corned beef for the Hanukkah party tomorrow as well.  Of course there is also the obligatory Chinese lunch that we have with my grandparents any time I am visiting.  It may not be home cooked, but it is better than almost all of the Chinese places that I have tried in SLC!

So, here I am sitting and waiting for the next thing to happen.  So far this has been a pretty good trip.  Surprising my dad’s parents before they left for Florida was good.  It certainly made them happy.  Lots of good food, and friends.  It all amounts to a nice bit of time off!