Have a Happy Holiday

While you guys are out partying down, I’m going to be here working all weekend. If you get lazy, check in with me and let me know how your spending (or eating) your days off. Monday, SideDish will be back in action and next week we’ve got more than a few surprises. Tra la. (Sorry, I hate that song.)

Check Out These Franks for the Fourth

So, apparently I’ve been living under a rock because I had no idea that Ball Park Franks recently came out with two new varieties just in time for barbecue season. So we figured–what better time to try out these new frankfurters than July 4th weekend? For the die-hard fan, pick up the Ball Park Angus beef frank and for the health conscious, the turkey frank. Both brands should now be available at your local grocer, but we know for a fact that the Highland Park Village Tom Thumb has the shelves stocked with these plump little treats. No matter which you choose, it’s still a hot dog. So really, how can you go wrong?

Are You Cooking Burgers for the Holiday?

Hello, Sailor! What a hunk. (Sorry, I got a little carried away there.) On a more serious note, I’ve been following Kroger’s recall (Hi, GW!) of ground beef in other states, but I just heard on local radio that the Dallas Kroger stores are participating in a “voluntary recall” of meat. So, if you aren’t already shopping the chicken and figs recipe below, let me make a suggestion: Hit the Dallas Farmers Market tonight. It’s open late and the stalls are full of fresh local corn, tomatoes, and all kinds of vegetables. You can also find great meat at Texas Meats Supernatural, a co-op of farms in Shed No. 2 that sells chicken, lamb, and beef from Windy Meadows, Rehoboth Ranch, and Truth Hill Farms. Take the kids, buy a lot, help a farmer. It’s great food and great fun. Oh, and it wouldn’t hurt if you signed up to be a Dallas Farmers Market Friend. (If you want to learn how to make a perfect bed of coals with from handsome dude, click here.)

It’s Fig Season

Once upon a time, when I lived in the evil empire, I had a good friend who loved to host festive dinner parties and cook recipes from the Silver Palate Cookbook. I was single at the time and my friend threw a shindig to set me up with some unknown actor. She served chicken and figs . The guy? We didn’t click one bit. However, I have had a 20-year love affair with chicken and figs. Call me an old fuddy duddy, but Joy of Cooking and Silver Palate are still my favorite cookbooks. And I hate CSI Miami. (This is so my newest favorite link. LOL!!!!)

Disher Still Searching for World-Delicacies

Way back yonder in the paw-paw-patch-days of April, we got into a where-oh-where-did-World Delicacies go conversation.You remember the place—it was like a Highland Park house full of imported goodies. The 20,000 square-foot space was a food groupie’s paradise. It closed. It allegedly moved to Grand Prairie and changed the name to European Imports (nice ring). Is it gone for good? A Disher begs: come along kids, let’s go find her:

What ever happened with this whole thing? World-Delicacies is definitely closed (tried to go there the other day), but I haven’t been able to find any info about European Imports opening in Grand Prairie. Their website is woefully out of date (http://www.eiltd.com) with the “Archive News” starting at 2005, so that doesn’t appear to be a reliable source of info. A Google search for “European Imports” in Grand Prairie predictably returns a lot of car places… Anyone have an update?

Dude, whatever you do, don’t give in and buy a used European car. Somebody in DisherSpace can help. (Poor thing, must be the heat.)

(photography by Kevin Hunter Marple)