Hot dogs

And who are these people? Who are the man shyly covering his face in the middle of the picture? What are they doing, poking around with sticks and even a whole tree branch, with sausages in the top?

Answer: this is my brother´s hot dog birthday party on the top of a small mountain just behind my grandmother´s house, very close to my parent´s farm. We are all trying to cope with the roaring fire to the right, but not visible in the picture. (My father got a bit freaked out when he still hadn´t got up there by 12.30 and the guests would arrive by 13. So he just rushed to the task and built a slightly over-dimensioned fire.) As you can see it was a glorious day with bright sunshine, and the temperature some degrees below zero. Perfect. Also, read about my brother´s party the night before, catered by me and Mum.

The man with his back to the camera and the very long barbecue branch is married to my aunt, and very inventive. This was his way to grill hot dogs for himself and his wife without getting smoke in his eyes. (Of course the wind came from the wrong direction, it always does when you have hot dog parties). Also the fire was *very* hot to come near.
My uncle, crouching in the middle and covering his eyes, not because he is shy but because of the smoke and the heat) frowned at his brother-in-law and called that barbecue branch the most cowardice way to grill a hot dog he ever has seen. As you can see, my uncle, as a hard core griller, uses a much shorter stick for his sausage.
Cough cough cough.

But the hot dog party was great anyway, we all got as much hot dogs as we could possibly eat and nothing tastes so good as something eaten outside in winter! Hot dogs grilled over open fire outdoors, with bread, mustard and ketchup and soda to drink is a real feast. As a tribute to old tradition I dropped one of my hot dogs in the fire (on purpose, of course! ;-) but fished it out again, brushed off the soot and ate it anyway. Just like when I was eight. A difference from the 80´s though is that my mother had bought wholemeal hot dog bread, which is very good. One of my aunts also made a hot dog for granny, who is 90 years old and couldn´t get up to the party. She participated later though in hot dog party part 2 when we got back to my parent´s for coffee and birthday cake.