Dogs and Kabobs

We had some friends over for dinner last Saturday since it was a particularly spectacular spring day here in North Texas. The weather was a little bit like the story of the three bears--not too hot, not too cold. It was juuuust right. But I digress. Already. Which, I guess, doesn't really bode well for the cohesiveness of this post, but then again I suppose that people don't read my blog for its triumph of organization. (Query: I wonder why it is that people DO read my blog. Probable Answer: Mostly because they are related to me in some way.)

But to get back on subject, such that it is, I talked with my friend Janet about what we were having for dinner and at her suggestion of "something easy" we decided on hot dogs. We divvied up the buying the provisions, so I went to the store. In addition to the hot dogs and stuff to make my world-famous salsa and pico de gallo, I ended up getting the ingredients to make a couple of other dishes. When TLS was helping me get the groceries out of the car I asked him if he'd tell me whether I had created an odd combination. My potentially odd combo? Hot dogs and vegetable kabobs. TLS thought for a moment and then said, "Dogs and kabobs. I like it." And I have to admit that it has a certain flair for the rhyme even if it is a little schizophrenic in the nutritional area. I also got the stuff to make some yummy cheese bread (using Aloutte cheese spread and thinly sliced zucchini and red onion). When our friends stopped at the store, in addition to the picnic friendly potato salad and cole slaw, they were drawn to the shrimp in the seafood case. After a consultation with the lady manning the seafood counter, they decided to use some foil to cook them on the grilltop.

Let me say, ladies and gentlemen, that we started eating chips and hot sauce at about 6 p.m. and finished eating our strawberry shortcake desert at 10 p.m. Here was the extent of our multicourse meal:

Course One:
chips with homemade salsa and guacamole
Course Two:
cheese bread
Course Three:
shrimp
Course Four:
vegetable kabobs
Course Five:
hotdogs with homemade pico de gallo
Course Six:
strawberry shortcake

In the meantime, we sat around the picnic table in the driveway and enjoyed the evening, good friends and an adult beverage or two. Good times.