Hot (diggity) dog

Many thanks to our friends who have been feeding us almost nonstop since we got to California - it's wonderful to be back among the artichokes and avocados. But lest my East Coast readers think that it's all natural and healthful stuff that Californians eat, I should point out that not once, but twice, we've been treated to hot dogs.

Of course, even the simple dog gets a pedigree in CA - one came from our neighborhood market, Taylor's, which features amazing meats (and has just opened a restaurant next door to the market that I want to check out while I'm here), and the other was a Prather Ranch dog. According to the Prather Ranch website:

One of the most unique aspects of the ranch is its “Closed Herd” status as part of their standard operating procedures for their beef and pharmaceutical/bio-medical device bovine raw material side of the business. The beef is hand-cut in our state-of-the-art USDA federally inspected abattoir located on the ranch. Prather Ranch is committed to the most natural way to raise wholesome beef for customers; the ranch does not administer growth-stimulating hormones or feed antibiotics. No animal sourced proteins are fed to the cattle at the Prather Ranch to ensure a safe and pure product for our customers. Computer based detailed records are kept on each individual animal and they are individually tracked through their entire life span.

And the result? An incredible hot dog, made even better with a thick slather of Monterey Mustard. (I'll see if I can find a recipe for the mustard - a really good hot and sweet treat - and post it tomorrow.)
In the meantime, for those of you who aren't Food Network junkies and haven't seen it, here's a video of Guy Fieri visiting a West Virginia hot dog emporium.