Dancin' in the Kitchen

So I am in the midst of making my American Night meal for Cristina and her fallas friends. Let me share with you some of the process I have gone through to make this meal possible.

One of the appetizers I am making is my mom's chili dip. Super easy: cream cheese, can o'chili, then cheddar cheese. Pop it in the microwave and it is gooey, heart-attack deliciousness.
Cream cheese was easy. They even have Philadelphia brand. And Light! So that heart attack will be minor.
I got the can of chili from Carrefour, which is pretty much a Target/WalMart on steroids. They have an international food section where they had English food, American food, Asian food, Mexican food and Tex-Mex. Tex-Mex apparently is very distinct. The Mexican food section was composed of all Old El Paso brand products, which is an Americanized Mexican brand that sells taco kits and "nachos" (which is what they call tortilla chips here). I grabbed some "nachos" for my dip and a trusty can of chili con carne.

Just now I was prepping the chili dip for later by putting the cream cheese and chili in a bowl. When I opened that chili...well, it was a wondrous smell. And I know that canned chili looks like dog food...or worse...but it smelled like home. A good smell, don't worry. I even tasted a little from the lid, which sounds disgusting and totally is, but it was great. I even broke out into song from the future excitement of eating this dip, the song "Put your hand upon my hip, when I dip, you dip, we dip."

In the mean time, I cooked some meatballs in the oven for my mom's meatball appetizer recipe (sweet chili sauce and jelly on meatballs). There were 24 in the pack, and there will be 14 people, so I wanted 28 meatballs. I made 4 extra from the meatloaf meat (pork and beef mix) which is different from the pre-made meatballs (pork). It's really obvious which ones I made. PS, pork cooks pink, which just looks gross.

Speaking of pink meat...

Hot dogs, Chicago style, is on the menu. Okay, not exactly Chicago style. There won't be sport peppers (too "spicy" for this crowd) and no celery salt (really hard to find). No poppy seed bun (hard to find) and no Vienna beef dogs (ew, pork pink meat! Though they are Oscar Meyer, which is American, which has to count for something). BUT don't you worry because I am stocked up on sweet green relish, pickles, tomatoes, onions, and yellow mustard so it will be partially "dragged through the garden."

"Wait, can someone call the dude in the helicopter? THE SPORT PEPPERS ARE TOO SPICY!"

More posts about dinner to come soon...