Hot Diggity Dog - June 23, 2018
I don’t know how the idea of a Hot Dog party came about. All I know is that Emma and her mom, Anna, dropped in – waiting for their take-out pizza to be ready – and we got to talking.
I don’t know how the idea of making rice krispy squares with gummy worms in them came about. But Emma and I did the shopping for them. Good thing Emma was there. I forgot all about the marshmallows.
One problem. Emma wanted the wieners barbequed. We don’t have a BBQ and while there are huge BBQs in garden area of our seniors’ apartment, we have no idea how to use them.
Solution? The Dolce Joe's Hot Dog Stand. See picture below. The only problem is I could not find one in any of the local stores and Amazon doesn’t carry them anyway. I wrote the company – they no longer make them. Happily, the Canal Side Kitchen Store in Port Colborne still stocks them. An excuse for a drive for Laurence; an excuse for a Tim Horton’s decaf for me.
Next, the invitations for Emma’s friends. For some reason the card shop doesn’t carry “Hot Dog and Gummy Worm Rice Krispy Squares Party” invitations. So I made some. See below. They a little “lame,” but they get the message across.
By noon last Saturday, I was ready to roll. Ginger ale, potato chips, and an art table for the girls to make Father’s Day cards. Laur and I had figured out how to operate our Joe’s Hot Dog stand – you flip the switch from off to on – and I had the stuff for dessert all measured out.
Emma arrived just before 1 pm and her friends, pretty much on the dot. They all signed in – this is a seniors’ facility – and down the hall we went to #103. I had meant to put on Beatles music, but forgot. My calming solo piano music was blasting away.
One of the girls asked if we could change the music – she found it really depressing. I asked what they would like and all agreed they loved Meghan Trainor. So do I – we have a lot of her music in Body Pump classes. So I looked up some MT videos on my computer and let them play away. The girls just loved her and lost interest in the art table and started mimicking her. Thankfully it’s PG material.
Turns out I was more excited about the hot dog maker than they were – but they enjoyed the hot dogs nonetheless in their own way. One – a competitive athlete – ate a dog with a bun. Emma – who has no appetite – ate two dogs without a bun. And the third gal – she didn’t want one but said she’d take one home with her for her family. (Good response! Turns out she has massive food allergies so this is how she deals politely with this challenge.)
By the time the hots dogs were finished, the girls were starting to get restless so we went into the garden-like backyard of our building and the girls blew bubbles and showed me how to do somersaults, cartwheels, and bridges. I tried a bridge – good thing there were no cars on it. It collapsed before it was even started.
On our way back to Laur’s and my apartment, one of the girls told me how sorry she was for me that I had to live in an apartment. Her grandmas had houses with big back yards. I explained that houses in St. Catharines are very expensive (and they are) and that Grumpa Laur and I do not like doing yard work.
Emma came up with an idea. “What don’t you buy a trailer and live in that?” (We have one in Arizona and she has visited us there.) I asked her where we could put it and she suggested her back yard. I told her that her parents are building a deck and there wouldn’t be room for both. She thought the front yard might work, but I told her it would obstruct their view of the boats going by on the Welland Canal.
By now we were back at the apartment and we all went off to wash our hands – getting ready to make our dessert. The girls enjoyed cutting up the gummy worms – wouldn’t want to be fishing with them! And they enjoyed stirring the rice krispies and worms into the melted marshmallows and margarine. But they balked at greasing up their hands to pat the RK squares into the pan. No worries – I’ve had to put my hands into far worse things than that.
Two of the girls enjoyed munching down on a few, and the girl with food allergies said she’d take hers home to share with her family. No worries, all were getting a plateful of them to take home. And the rest of the potato chips. Laur cannot have chips in the house.
It was almost 3 pm now and the girls and I returned to the apartment entrance and they signed out. Each had a flower pen and card, bubble mix, a card for their dad – maybe not quite finished – RK squares, and chips. Note to Jan – next time have “take home bags.” While we waited, Laur cleaned up the kitchen. Good man! He was just glad not to have to join us. Meghan Trainor and giggling is not his gig, (though the chips sorely tempted him…)
I asked Emma what she’d like to do next time. She thinks an ice cream sundae party would be fun, and she would have liked it if we had gone to the park. We have a park with a water play area one block from us – so that would work. But it’s gonna have to be dairy free ice cream – given all the milk allergies these days. Very doable. And a movie as a back up if it rains.
I was surprised at how easy this was. A little sad, actually. These little girls are already acting like ‘tweens. This isn’t an accusation. This is an observation. There are huge societal and consumer forces out there that are stronger than their parents’ and grandparents’ desire to keep them young and innocent as long as possible.
I have another Hot Dog / RK squares party coming up. This one should be a little wilder. It’s gonna be with my two grandnephews and grandniece – ages five, three, and two. And their mom. It’s actually Tammy and I that get a little crazy when we get together.
These kids are active enough to get really hunger and young enough to enjoy getting really dirty. I expect slathering their hands with margarine will be their favourite part! Next to massacring the gummy worms. 😊
I don’t know how the idea of making rice krispy squares with gummy worms in them came about. But Emma and I did the shopping for them. Good thing Emma was there. I forgot all about the marshmallows.
One problem. Emma wanted the wieners barbequed. We don’t have a BBQ and while there are huge BBQs in garden area of our seniors’ apartment, we have no idea how to use them.
Solution? The Dolce Joe's Hot Dog Stand. See picture below. The only problem is I could not find one in any of the local stores and Amazon doesn’t carry them anyway. I wrote the company – they no longer make them. Happily, the Canal Side Kitchen Store in Port Colborne still stocks them. An excuse for a drive for Laurence; an excuse for a Tim Horton’s decaf for me.
Next, the invitations for Emma’s friends. For some reason the card shop doesn’t carry “Hot Dog and Gummy Worm Rice Krispy Squares Party” invitations. So I made some. See below. They a little “lame,” but they get the message across.
By noon last Saturday, I was ready to roll. Ginger ale, potato chips, and an art table for the girls to make Father’s Day cards. Laur and I had figured out how to operate our Joe’s Hot Dog stand – you flip the switch from off to on – and I had the stuff for dessert all measured out.
Emma arrived just before 1 pm and her friends, pretty much on the dot. They all signed in – this is a seniors’ facility – and down the hall we went to #103. I had meant to put on Beatles music, but forgot. My calming solo piano music was blasting away.
One of the girls asked if we could change the music – she found it really depressing. I asked what they would like and all agreed they loved Meghan Trainor. So do I – we have a lot of her music in Body Pump classes. So I looked up some MT videos on my computer and let them play away. The girls just loved her and lost interest in the art table and started mimicking her. Thankfully it’s PG material.
Turns out I was more excited about the hot dog maker than they were – but they enjoyed the hot dogs nonetheless in their own way. One – a competitive athlete – ate a dog with a bun. Emma – who has no appetite – ate two dogs without a bun. And the third gal – she didn’t want one but said she’d take one home with her for her family. (Good response! Turns out she has massive food allergies so this is how she deals politely with this challenge.)
By the time the hots dogs were finished, the girls were starting to get restless so we went into the garden-like backyard of our building and the girls blew bubbles and showed me how to do somersaults, cartwheels, and bridges. I tried a bridge – good thing there were no cars on it. It collapsed before it was even started.
On our way back to Laur’s and my apartment, one of the girls told me how sorry she was for me that I had to live in an apartment. Her grandmas had houses with big back yards. I explained that houses in St. Catharines are very expensive (and they are) and that Grumpa Laur and I do not like doing yard work.
Emma came up with an idea. “What don’t you buy a trailer and live in that?” (We have one in Arizona and she has visited us there.) I asked her where we could put it and she suggested her back yard. I told her that her parents are building a deck and there wouldn’t be room for both. She thought the front yard might work, but I told her it would obstruct their view of the boats going by on the Welland Canal.
By now we were back at the apartment and we all went off to wash our hands – getting ready to make our dessert. The girls enjoyed cutting up the gummy worms – wouldn’t want to be fishing with them! And they enjoyed stirring the rice krispies and worms into the melted marshmallows and margarine. But they balked at greasing up their hands to pat the RK squares into the pan. No worries – I’ve had to put my hands into far worse things than that.
Two of the girls enjoyed munching down on a few, and the girl with food allergies said she’d take hers home to share with her family. No worries, all were getting a plateful of them to take home. And the rest of the potato chips. Laur cannot have chips in the house.
It was almost 3 pm now and the girls and I returned to the apartment entrance and they signed out. Each had a flower pen and card, bubble mix, a card for their dad – maybe not quite finished – RK squares, and chips. Note to Jan – next time have “take home bags.” While we waited, Laur cleaned up the kitchen. Good man! He was just glad not to have to join us. Meghan Trainor and giggling is not his gig, (though the chips sorely tempted him…)
I asked Emma what she’d like to do next time. She thinks an ice cream sundae party would be fun, and she would have liked it if we had gone to the park. We have a park with a water play area one block from us – so that would work. But it’s gonna have to be dairy free ice cream – given all the milk allergies these days. Very doable. And a movie as a back up if it rains.
I was surprised at how easy this was. A little sad, actually. These little girls are already acting like ‘tweens. This isn’t an accusation. This is an observation. There are huge societal and consumer forces out there that are stronger than their parents’ and grandparents’ desire to keep them young and innocent as long as possible.
I have another Hot Dog / RK squares party coming up. This one should be a little wilder. It’s gonna be with my two grandnephews and grandniece – ages five, three, and two. And their mom. It’s actually Tammy and I that get a little crazy when we get together.
These kids are active enough to get really hunger and young enough to enjoy getting really dirty. I expect slathering their hands with margarine will be their favourite part! Next to massacring the gummy worms. 😊