It’s game four of the World Series and the Giants have won the last three games. Tonight, they have a chance to sweep the series and win it all. Even on a day normally dominated by football, most of Northern California is tuned in and cheering for baseball tonight. No one seems to be immune to the magic of a possible home team champion.
This game is being played in Detroit. There is what the announcers are calling a driving mist coming down on the players, the wind a powerful ally or foe depending on your perspective. Here, at the bottom of the 9th inning, the score is tied 3 to 3. The Detroit fans are wildly cheering on their Tigers, as well they should be. It’s been a great game so far!
Our viewing was enhanced this evening by some baseball stadium style grub. Stadium food for dinner was a fun way to give us the feeling of “being there.” Our viewing would have been more realistic if we’d sat under the sprinklers outside, but that was really more of a commitment than I was willing to make on a Sunday night. Besides, that seems more like a game 7 enhancement, don’t you think?
Earlier in the day, I used the Cheesy Mustard Pretzel Bread recipe from Betty Crocker’s Best Bread Machine Cookbook. In place of the cheddar cheese in the recipe, I used a half a cup of Daiya Cheddar Style Shreds. The shreds blended into the dough perfectly and were totally invisible in the finished loaf. The bread wasn’t too cheesy or too mustardy, but it was very salty thanks to all the salt I sprinkled on just before the machine went into the bake cycle. It wasn’t quite a baseball stadium pretzel, but it was a fun addition to our at-home stadium!
Our ‘dogs were Yves Meatless Jumbo Dogs. I first boiled them as per the directions on the back of the package. After taking them out of the water, I thought they looked kind of blah. As opposed to drag out the grill, I brought out my little George Foreman grill. I let the ‘dogs cook on the Foreman grill about 5-7 minutes, just long enough to create those nifty little grill marks. Although they weren’t quite the same as what I’d get on an outdoor grill, I liked the way they looked as well as the firmness and texture the grilling added.
I toasted the buns for a few minutes under the broiler before spreading on a little Vegenaise and adding the ‘dog. A quick Google Images search of “stadium hot dogs” turned up an image of what I understand to be a Chicago style hot dog. Using that as inspiration, we topped ours with diced yellow onion, dill relish, spicy mustard, celery seed, sliced tomato, and a couple of dill pickle slices.
In addition to the ‘dogs, I made garlic fries. We used some plain frozen fries, covered with 5-6 cloves of minced garlic and a liberal sprinkling of coarse salt. I added some sunflower seeds to the plate for fun, and, after opening a bottle of root beer, we had a meal. It was like dining in our own little skybox. High class!
We ate tensely as the game has been the closest of the series. Somehow we managed not to jump up and spill anything on the carpet. But it’s a good thing that we weren’t eating just now as Scutaro batted in a run for the Giants and I leaped up whooping and clapping!
Actually, folks, I hate to cut this short, but we’re in the bottom of the 10th and it looks like I’m going to have a lot more jumping and shouting to do tonight!
Let’s go Giants!
Oh boy! I can hear the fireworks already!
x means no onions 