It’s been a while since I was home alone for dinner. Victor and Nonna took off to North Jersey for Joanna’s and Miles’ birthdays while I worked, so I fell back onto my old standby from yesteryear – chili dogs!

Hot dogs really are one of my most favorite foods. I really really like old-fashioned skin-on hot dogs, but they are getting more and more difficult to find locally. Most of what is now out there is skinless – the kind that just sorta dissolve in your mouth with no chew and no texture. Bogus.

I do pick up the all-beef dogs at work. They, at least, have a bite to them – but I really do miss that snap and pop when you bite into a real one.

I usually grill them, but tonight I split them and fried them like we did when I worked at The Donut Center circa 1961. And then topped them with canned chili – hot, of course – and cheese and raw onions.

Gastronomic Heaven on Earth.