Happy Dog.....Happy Anniversary!

Its been a busy, snowy week in Cleveland. My doggy, Stella, of 10 years had some surgery.


She had a tumor removed from behind her ear and has some stitches. She made it through and I'm happy to report she's back to her perky self. Sometimes poor Stella takes a backseat in this family because of our crazy schedules, but, the thought of possibly losing her this week made me realize how important she is to me. She is always there for us no matter what kind of moods we are in. Nothing like the unconditional love of a dog( sniff, sniff).


There have also been some celebrations in my family this week which has resulted in me eating my way through Cleveland. Happy birthday to my Mom! For her birthday, we ate at Luchitas which is one of my oldest and most favorite Mexican restaurants. But, I will be saving that for another blogging time. The other celebration was my 16th wedding anniversary!! That's right, I got married young at the tender age of 14. Just kidding... just don't want to give away my age right now.
Anyhow, B and I decided to celebrate with dinner and a movie.


I wanted to get caught up on some of the Oscar nominated movies so we saw The Fighter. This is the best movie I've seen in a while. I wasn't sure that a movie about boxing would be my cup of tea. But, the movie ended up being about love, relationships, and the strong bonds of family(no matter how dysfunctional). The big Irish family in this flick was like a trainwreck! I couldn't look away. Christian Bale's performance was amazing. We caught the movie at the Capitol Theatre which is a beautifully revamped theater with very little leg room(guess people were a lot shorter back in the early 1900's). Still, a fun place to see a movie.


Next, we headed across the street to this place.....

We were on a roll because like the movie, this is one of the best places I've eaten in a while. Did we have a romantic candle lit steak and lobster dinner? Not exactly... we ate hot dogs! But
these were like no other hot dogs I've ever experienced. You get to choose as many toppings out of 50 as you want from the toppings menu below. I started out with 3 toppings.... spicy yellow mustard, Bourbon baked beans, and vodka sauerkraut.

My crazy spouse of 16 years was trying to win the hottest hot dog of the year award with his hot dog topping order of hot banana pepper rings, habanero pickled red onions, and spicy mustard. Good thing there is a vast selection of microbrews on tap and in the bottle to wash it all down. For you wine O's, there are a few wines on the menu, but I think we all agree that hot dogs call for beer.

This is my delicious mess of a hot dog.

The only side dish choices are french fries and tots. BUT... there are 19 dipping sauces and 9 toppings to choose from. We chose Chipotle ketchup and Sriracha hot sauce. I had so much fun picking out my toppings and sauces! I can't wait to return so I can try others. The atmosphere was a lot of fun complete with good music(lots of live bands) and a 50's art deco kind of look.

Well, I know my title is The Caring Foodie. And I'm trying to figure out how a caring foodie could send you to a hot dog joint..... In my defense, the toppings are made fresh daily and my selections were low-fat and full of fiber(even though a hot dog was buried underneath). My best advice is to stay away from the cheeses, mayos, hollandaise sauce, and fried egg. You can also split your fries like we did. Oh.. and you can also select a vegetarian hot dog as an alternative. But my best advice after a meal like this is to just work your hot dog buns off the next day as I did cross country skiing. If you can't beat the weather, join it.

Cross country trails at Chapin Forest... another great Cleveland activity.