Yesterday I sort of half-assed celebrated Memorial Day by firing up the grill & cooked Ball Park franks (a.k.a. hot dogs) & hamburgers. You can’t go wrong with traditional hot dogs & hamburgers. I’ve eaten them all of my life, from being in the Girl Scouts & going to scout retreats, to grabbing an expensive bite to eat at the baseball park, to going on yearly camping trips with my family.
It’s been so cussing long since I’ve had a really good hamburger. I can’t even remember the last time I ate a hamburger that made me speechless. Until yesterday. Let me just tell you that I love eating hamburgers (& sandwiches, but that’s a whole other story). I could eat hamburgers almost every single day (right along with sandwiches). Hamburgers give me life~! However, I think I should explain a little more about my love for hamburgers.
If you’ve read my older blog posts, you will already know that I’m kind of a “Plain Jane” when it comes to food. I’m not big on saucy foods, & hamburgers, well…you can probably guess where this is going. I don’t like sauce or spreads on my hamburgers. No mayonnaise. No ketchup. No aioli. No cock sauce (a.k.a. Sriracha hot sauce). I like my hamburgers the old fashioned way, with no frou-frou dressings &/or toppings. Just a regular, plain ol’ hamburger with cheese (yes, I know that’s called a cheeseburger).
I’m not really a fan of those special toppings like bacon, avocado, fried eggs, caramelized onions, & the like. Call me bland & boring. I don’t mind. I know I am. Why can’t I enjoy my hamburger with nothing else except cheese, preferably American or Cheddar, & sliced onions? Ok, sometimes, but not often, I will slip in a few slices of lettuce &/or tomatoes, but that’s about as far as I’ll go in terms of burger toppings. I’d much rather taste the flavor of the patty meat over the overwhelming flavor of extra toppings. Plus, I hate it when you take a bite of your hamburger & all of the unecessary extras fall out from the bottom of the buns, & you gotta scoop up half of your sloppy, messy burger like you’re eating a Chipotle burrito bowl. Just give me a juicy patty, cheese, & onions on a well-toasted brioche bun & I’ll be happy for the rest of my days.
Yesterday was the first time in a long time in which I had a delicious, fresh off the grill, no frills hamburger, & it practically knocked my socks off. I was so much in heaven while eating my burger, I scarfed it down in less than 6 bites. I was enjoying my delicious patty sandwich so much that I didn’t even speak at all, just quietly sat at the kitchen table & proceeded to cry with joy on the inside. I almost wanted to break out into song & dance just to show how happy I was at eating a hamburger. All I can say is that I ended up wolfing down TWO hamburgers without even blinking an eye. No really, I don’t think I even blinked the entire time I ate my hamburgers.
I wish I had taken a photo of my hamburger, but I was too busy enjoying it to bother with my smartphone camera. This is my usual setup for making a delicious hamburger:
- bottom bun
- beef patty
- 1 or 2 slices of cheese (lettuce & tomato is optional)
- lots & lots of sliced onion (preferably white onion, but red onion is OK too)
- top bun
I don’t mind if I’m eating a hamburger at a restaurant & they put their own sauce on the buns. I am not so picky that I will scrape the sauce off. I will eat the burger with sauce. The only thing I will remove on a restaurant hamburger is the pickles. I do not like pickles whatsoever. I’m sorry, I just can’t even with pickled/fermented vegetables. If I order a hamburger at a restaurant, I’d like to believe that I’m not one of those types of people who ask to have toppings substitued or taken off. I’ll just order the hamburger as listed on the menu. If there’s anything I don’t like on the hamburger, I’ll just discreetly take it off when the hamburger reaches my table. Otherwise, I’ll just eat the restaurant hamburger the way it was served. If I’m at home however, I’ll just eat my hamburgers plain, as shown in the short list above.
Today, I had hamburgers yet again. Jian fired up the grill to cook the remaining beef patties we had leftover from yesterday. We’re leaving for Los Angeles on Thursday, so we’re trying to clean out the refrigerator as much as we can before our weekend trip. To be honest, I did a little happy dance in my head when I ate hamburgers again today. Honestly, I could eat hamburgers again & again for the rest of the week & not be tired of them. As long as I can pile on the mounds & mounds of freshly sliced onions & stack up the cheese inbetween that freshly toasted bun, I will be a happy camper. I can’t wait to indulge in hamburgers again. Until then, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 