Ball Park Eats

I haven't posted much this week because I've been out to dinner almost every night. Partly this makes me sad because I enjoy cooking so much, but it has been a lot of fun at the same time! One of the most fun nights this week involved ball-park food. There is no doubt about it: food just tastes so much better when it is consumed from the stands of a baseball game on a warm summer night. There is the excitement of being at a game, combined with the fact that the stands are lined with a hundred completely greasy, indulgent, and delicious food options. There is simply nothing like the feeling of total relaxation as you cool off with a giant ice cream sundae inside a baseball helmet bowl (and forgetting there is work the next day).

We were at Citizen's Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies, for this week's game against the Indians. I love the Phillies' home stadium because there is literally no bad seat in the house. It's totally fun! Even from our far-off seats, you still feel close to the action:

Can't you just hear those crazy fans screaming? The Phillies won, by the way. I don't dare mention that I'm a transplanted Mets fan while I'm sitting in that stadium. I made that mistake once at my first game, and I will never make it again.

Anyway, we ate:

salty, juicy, deeply browned sausages topped with heaps of sauteed onions and peppers, encased in a huge semi-soft bun designed to soak up all the flavorful juices without getting one bit soggy;

grilled hot dogs in soft buns, smothered with ketchup;

buttery soft Philly pretzels speckled with hail-sized salt pieces, and dipped in grainy brown mustard;

the salt of which had us drinking down lots of thirst-quenching ball park beer!;

Philadelphia water ice, mango flavored, please!;

and waffle cones heaped with vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce, and peanuts.

Thank god for the Subway or we might have had to roll ourselves home. Eating at ball parks also makes one throw inhibition into the wind. Tomorrow is for health! Today is for sausages! Now, play ball!