Of Chili Dogs and Cold Beer

Woke up a little late on Sunday morning, missing the morning dog walk, but feeling refreshed and ready for the day ahead.

After breakfast and a quick blast on one of my bass guitars (put new strings on them on Saturday - love a guitar with new strings...) I started making dough for the rolls we would have with our barbeque.  Once this was set aside to rise I got to work on the chili dog sauce, using a recipe that was sent to me by one of my wonderful blog buddies...

The recipe was written for a semi-industrial scale, I reduced the amounts to a more managable level.  The only risk I took was to interpret "Red Pepper" as "Cayenne Pepper"....

After the sause was cooked, I put a lid on it and set it aside for reheating later on.  In my experience, things like this often benefit from a good standing time to allow the flavours to develop fully.

The rolls rose and baked to perfection....

The sausages that were to make up the chili dogs were put onto the barbeque last, catching the lower heat that was good for warming them through...

Then it was time.

I cut open a roll, and placed one of the sausages in it.  Slight misjudgement meant that an inch or so of sausage hung out of each end of the roll, but hey, that is not serious.

Then a couple of generous spoonfuls of the chili mix.

I swear there was a Chorus of Angels at this point.

The chili dog also glowed briefly, I kid you not!

OK, so maybe the Police were chasing someone on the bypass.

And MAYBE someone picked up their glass which reflected the bright sunshine.

Maybe.

But there is no denying that this was the Holy Grail of chili dogs.  It was absolutely wonderful.  As was the 2nd and 3rd.  Many thanks for the recipe, wReggie - I am forever in your debt.

And now we come to the beer part.  I had bought some nice German beer to go with the chili dogs, but as I was cooking and baking in the heat from the sun (hotter than most of the summer had been!) I added some appleade to it.  It was a wonderfully refreshing combination.  Mrs RC pulled a face when I told her what I was drinking, but she then drifted back for a sip.  After that she returned for several more, admitting that it was rather good!

Later that evening I had another beer and watched a dodgy disaster movie - a "just how bad can the continuity get" movie.  A great way to round off a wonderful weekend.

Hope you had a great weekend and have a great week to come!