The Royce Files

T he last few years I have developed a taste for the Chicago Hot Dog . This is sort of like the Whopper of the hot dog world- a dog with everything on it. A few places in town serve it- Bertrossa's Chicago Cafe (one of my favorite spots to eat in the downtown) and Orange Julius. I found a place in near downtown St. Paul that also serves up the Chicago and other Chicago culinary delights. I sometimes try to make my one knock off version with ingredients I can find. I have yet to find the sport peppers and poppy seed hot dog buns. It would also be great to find the neon green relish. Needless to say I try my best. I usual grill the cheap dogs (not the Vienna one's but I should find a natural casing one.) but today I steamed them like a street vendor. They were delicious- and go good with a beer.

I suspect many of you may know or have heard of Ralph Nader. He's been a part of every Presidential election of this century and is an outspoken critic of corporations but a advocate for consumers. I wrote a few days ago that Ralph was coming to my town. I was unable to see him due to that lost keys fiasco (they are still missing.) A friend of mine did attend the rally and said Ralph was top notch. I just read an interview with him done by Amy Goodman back in June. Amy pretty much does a good job of getting Ralph to discuss lots of his positions. [ed. note Amy Goodman would generally be characterized as far left liberal or perhaps a more pleasant term, progressive according to her wiki bio . Let's just say she has some baggage that some would be uncomfortable. She shares many of Ralph Nader's positions. From this interview you can see that she is rather friendly towards Ralph and doesn't challenge him on any points. Amy has enough material for another blog article but