Hot Doggy Birthday To Me!

Julie came over last night, under the guise of “taking all of us out” for my birthday, which was (as you readers know) on Tuesday. Where we were going was a surprise.

When she arrived, she gave me the real surprise. We were making dinner here.

Wait! Don’t say, “Awwww….”!!! It was SO AWESOME!

If you’ve been reading our blogs for a while, you’ll know about Julie’s New York connection and how much fun we’ve had when we go there together(which is not often enough!). If you need a refresher, see this, about halfway down.

She BROUGHT New York for dinner! And I don’t mean this New York. I mean THIS one!

That’s right, she brought our favorite breakfast, lunch, dinner, and late night snack, shipped fresh from NYC!

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The hot dogs were only the beginning. She brought fries to go with it–which, just for the record, are NOT necessary in NYC when you’re grabbing a quick brekkie on the way to the subway–deli pickles, and the ingredients to make papaya smoothies! Yes! You read that correctly! New York Dogs and Papaya Smoothies, right here in Suburbia!

We actually tried the smoothie recipe that she found on the Food Network website a bit after our trip last year, and it’s delightful (at that time, we made it for breakfast with French Toast…but there’s nothing like having it with NY Dogs.). If you’re curious, the recipe is by Dave Lieberman, and here it is:

Papaya Smoothie

2 cups papaya juice
1/3 cup whole milk
3 Tbsp. honey
6 to 8 cubes ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until frothy. Pour into 2 glasses and serve immediately.

That’s it! For an added touch of glamour, Julie cut up fresh papaya and tossed it into the glasses.
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YUMMY!

All I have to say is, thank goodness Cuisinart finally came through with my blender gasket and blade assembly. Coincidentally it arrived the day before yesterday.

So that was the first time the rest of my family had tried a real NY Dog. We made sure that everyone paid close attention to the “snap” of the first bite, and when Julie asked Jim what he thought of these hot dogs in comparison with what we’re used to here, he came up with the winning quote of the night: “It just seems like too much work, to bite through that.” We were in hysterics! He’s so funny!

By the way, she also brought Carnegie Deli cheesecake (YUM again!), but we were so incredibly full from dinner that we’re going to have to save that for another day…

I’ve gotta close out this post. I still have to have breakfast before I head off to work. Hey…I think there are leftover hot dogs in the refrigerator…Gotta go!

6 Comments

  • Jules

    We totally have to do that again sometime…. it was genius if I do say so myself. Next time I’ll bring Jim his favorite Portillo’s though because I don’t want him to have to “work” just to chew his food. Poor guy. I think if he wasn’t so tired he wouldn’t have felt like that. I loved them, and you loved them so that’s a good thing! I was glad they actually tasted like they did in NYC.
    Yippee!!!

  • Melisa

    Come on over, Kat! I have another package of dogs left, and frankly if you come all the way across the Atlantic to get ’em, then you definitely deserve to have some! (but not all, because I’ll be having some with you! LOL)

    Julie: I KNOW! But on the next time let’s do it in NYC. Then the time after that can be in Suburbia. Poor Jim. He was “purt near” exhausted.

  • Jen with one N

    Julie rocks! Glad to hear they were just as good in suburbia,lol. I always wondered if maybe it was the whole atmosphere thing that added to awesomeness of Papaya King. Ya know, crawling over a mob and fighting for a hotdog makes that first bite seem that much more glorious. Either way, Papaya King is awesome!

  • Melisa

    One N Jen: Yes, we would definitely prefer the “crawling over a mob and fighting for a hot dog” type of scene, but this was DEFINITELY a close second. 🙂