Not the Wurst

I’M ON A TRAIN!!!!  Not going to lie, it is awesome and everything I wanted it to be!  I am in a sleeper car which is apparently first class and has a lot of fun perks.  We’re going from Worcester to Chicago.  It’s kind of a bucket list item for me, though Will joked now I’m going to be booking 3 train rides a year.  I would if it wasn’t so expensive for the sleeper car!  The coach cars have super nice looking seats with much more legroom than planes, though I don’t know if I could handle that many hours in a coach seat.

I got to sleep on the top bunk last night which was surprisingly comfortable.  The rocking lulled me off to sleep around 10:30pm.  The shades on the windows worked really well and the train is surprisingly quiet, so we didn’t wake up until 7:30am!  Oh and the windows for the top bunk are super cool so you get a great view in the morning.  I don’t know how but everything we drove by last night was beautiful!  Everything was next to bodies of water and rivers and we saw brooks, swamps, rivers and forests.  This morning we’re on to farm country, passing tons of corn fields.  There was a 2 hour delay due to a mechanical issue, but despite that I’m having a great time.  I can see why my grandma loved the train!

Kiddos starting the adventure.

Total bliss

Here’s our car!

Dinner in the dining car!

Will snuggling up for bed.

Julius on the top bunk

Second day chilling

Arriving in Chicago!

Speaking of my grandparents, my grandpa passed away last week so I’ve been pretty teary reflecting on my grandparents and how good they were to us.  My one main regret of being vegetarian is having to forgo German delicacies.  Liverwurst, schnitzel, swedish meatballs, fleischsalat (or even just bologna), sauerbraten, goulash, rouladen are just some of my favorites that my grandma used to make.  And then of course there are all the wursts.  My favorite (other than liverwurst) was always knockwurst.  My grandparents went to their favorite delis to get their wurst, and one of them is up in MA, right next to the German club.  When Will’s family talked about “the club” they refer to the country club, when my grandparents refer to “the club” they are referring to the German club.

My family and I joined my grandparents occasionally at the club (in Pawtucket) for Oktoberfest and the Christmas celebration.  The club was mostly (at that time) septuagenarians, but the food was absolutely amazing.  My grandpa was always proud to suggest what we eat (2 or 3 dinners worth), and we’d end up stuffed and happy.  In recent years Will and I met my grandparents at the Walpole club for Oktoberfest which was a much bigger production, but still had the authentic food options.  My grandparents would bring their folding chairs, listen to the oompah band and chat up anyone who mentioned Germany.  I got the feeling in more recent years, though, that the food had become less authentic, the crowds had gotten bigger and rowdier and we were the ones encouraging my grandparents to go.  I think I’ll go this year and think of my grandparents.

Well all this talk of sausages is reminding me of frankfurters and those remind me of the bastardized American version, hot dogs.  Well I’ve been to the beach a lot this summer and I associate the beach with hot dogs.  You see, my mom used to carry a thermos full of hot dogs and boiling water to the beach and we’d have piping-hot hot dogs when we were hungry from our day of play.  With your hands imparting salt from the water and the unavoidable grit from a piece or ten of sand, the hot dogs were a little piece of heaven.  I started bringing hot dogs to the beach myself when I hit adulthood and twice this summer I was asked how it works.  So I thought it was high time to make a blog post about mom’s hot dogs.

Mom’s Beach Hot Dogs

What you’ll need:

• A vacuum thermos (I used this one: https://a.co/d/4loVYkq)
• a package of hot dogs (regular ball park size ones, bun size ones are too big) or vegan hot dogs**
• buns (New England style, do I really have to specify?)
• condiments (I do chopped onions and mustard)
• a fork or teeny tongs

1. Boil a teapot of water.  When it comes to a boil pour into thermos and seal.
   

   Pour boiling water into thermos and seal

2. While thermos is coming to temp, boil hot dogs in a separate pot of water.**
3. When hot dogs come to a boil, start a second teapot of water to boil.
4. When second teapot of water starts to boil, open thermos and pour water down the drain.
5. Using tongs, move hot dogs into the thermos (in my thermos I can fit about 10 hot dogs)
6. Immediate pour the boiling water from the teapot over the hot dogs, filling the thermos to the top.
   

   Pour boiling water over hot dogs.

7. Close the lid and let sit until ready to enjoy.***
8. When you’re ready to serve, remove the cover from your thermos and use a fork or tongs to remove the hot dogs and serve.  (My mom used to pour the hot dogs into the cup the thermos comes with, which is a pro move I haven’t mastered.)
   

   Remove hot dogs with tongs for serving.

   

   Hot dog station ready

**Note, I’ve made beach hot dogs with vegan hot dogs as well (I like the light life brand) but you cannot boil the hot dogs before putting them in the container or they fall apart.  Instead, just prep the thermos with boiling water, let it sit for 5 minutes, then dump water, insert vegan hot dogs in the container, and refill with boiling water.

***Another note:  last time I made hot dogs with this method I had made a second thermos that was never opened.  When I got home I opened the hot dogs and checked the temp with a meat thermometer – the hot dogs were just over 165 F which is the internal FDA food safety temp!  That was from 8am to 9:45pm!  Those concerned about hot dog food safety, fear not!