It's not Kansas City

I actually didn't know Kansas City is the most well known city for barbecue. I always thought it was Memphis or maybe somewhere in Texas. Turns out it's Kansas City.

BBQ sauce is not to be found in Belgium. Unlike in the U.S. where there's half an aisle in the grocery stores dedicated to it, here that space is dedicated to all the various kinds of mayonnaise. Actually I've never seen a BBQ item on any menu either. Ribs are usually available at Mexican restaurants, for whatever reason, but they aren't slathered in BBQ sauce.

I was thinking the other day how good a BBQ sandwich would be. Despite not having BBQ sauce in a jar from the store, we could find all the ingredients and made our own. In desperation, we've done this with cherry pie filling too. Because sometimes cherry pie filling is necessary.

We added cole slaw to the sandwich and it was really good! It dawned on me that perhaps the reason we call it "cole slaw" is because the Dutch word for cabbage is kool (pronounced kole) and the Dutch word for salad is sla.

Which brings me to hot dogs. What a segue. On our recent trip home for Christmas, I bought a can of Hormel chili to bring back with us because there's also no chili in Belgium.

Although they come in a jar with water, weiners are available - strange, but they're not too bad. Especially if put on the grill and left to reach that carcinogenic stage - which is exactly how I like them.

The one problem with hot dogs is there are no hot dog buns here. Unlike BBQ sauce and cherry pie filling, in my opinion, there is no way to produce a hot dog bun at home. I think this a pretty essential ingredient to hot dogs. Believe me, I've looked for them, but I think I may have a solution . . .

2 hot-dogs + 1 frisdrank aan 1,50

Ikea offers this combo on their bistro menu. Yes, they actually call it a combo. Sadly, Ikea does not sell buns in the Swedish market - only at the bistro and only in a combo. I'm thinking we could make a trip to Ikea (hour and a half round trip), slap those weiners on the grill at home, open my can of chili and . . . voila - American hot dogs.

I was also thinking ahead and purchased French's mustard while home at Christmas because although Belgians have 20 different kinds of mayonnaise to choose from, they do not eat yellow mustard.

We're cookin' now!

Trivia - if you've never seen the word segue in print, you know it: seg-way (a smooth transition) and if you've never seen voila in print, you know it too: vwa-la (expression of satisfaction).

I say this because I was thrilled the first time I realized the word I've heard all my life as "boocoo" as in we saw boocoos of mayonnaise at the supermarket is actually the French word "beaucoup" (bo-coo) as in merci beaucoup. Thank you very much :)