I've just finished five days of food research in the Tucson, Arizona area, which is just now heading into its high season. There's a lot there for culinary travelers to tackle, from upscale restaurants who make sophisticated use of local produce, to spa cuisine, to Native American traditional recipes, and of course, Mexican specialties.

Much more about all that to come, but in the meantime, I want to talk about the hot dogs.

The Sonoran Hot Dog

Hot dogs seem to be the Tuscon fast food choice for lunch or a late night bite, but these are no plain, unadorned dogs. A couple of months ago, Tucson's Sonoran hot dog gained national attention when John T. Edge wrote about them for the New York Times. I couldn't wait to try them.

The Sonoran hot dog is a hot dog wrapped in bacon, and served topped with beans and taco fixings on a soft and fluffy bun. As I've mentioned before, Sonoran hot dogs are an example of a dish that makes use of traditions on both sides of the border -- hot dogs being a quintessential US food, tacos obviously hailing from south of border, and bacon-wrapping -- well, that's just brilliant. (Bacon-wrapped hot dogs are popular nighttime street food in Mexico, in my visit to Mexico City's club district of Zona Rosa a few weeks ago, the air was fragrant with the smell of grilling hot dogs and bacon.)

Pat's Chili Dog

When you get to Tucson, a great place to try a Sonoran hot dog is El Guero Canelo, which will run you $2.29. It will be tempting to just head straight to a table to dig in, but the condiment bar will be a big part of your meal -- you can essential top your dog with an entire salad, but I suggest adding grilled scallions and onions to yours. Oh also, your hot dogs will be served with a roasted chile pepper, which you can nibble on in between bites of your hot dog, or pour the chile juice directly on the hot dog for added heat.

Sonoran hot dogs would be my total addiction if I lived in Tucson, but another old dog favorite in town is Pat's Drive-In, 1202 W Niagara St, where you can get an excellent chili dog. You can choose the heat factor in your chili, go for the hot for an extra kick.

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Photo: Alison Stein Wellner}

Skull Candy in Puebla

I love the morbidity of late October holidays. Of course there's Halloween, now just an excuse to dress up and eat loads of candy, but it originated as a Celtic holiday called Samhain, where people dressed up to confuse the ghosts of the dead coming back with bad intentions.

And then there's the Day of the Dead, celebrated on November 1st and 2nd -- from a culinary perspective, it's much more interesting. This holiday is celebrated in Mexico and the Mexican diaspora, marking the days that the souls of the dead are thought to easily pass back to the living. The celebrations are cheerfully ghoulish, with loads of skull and bones imagery, and this extends to the traditional festive foods. There are skulls made of sugar, pictured here. Some of these skulls are meant as art objects, not to be eaten. But when I was in Mexico a couple of weeks ago, I heard about plenty of people eating these sugary skulls, as a way of honoring the specific departed person that the skull was dedicated to. (I also heard about smashing the sugar skull standing in for a disliked dead person, and then eating it gleefully.)

Since eating pure sugar isn't everyone's bag, there's also a slightly sweet bread called pan de muerto (or bread of the dead) which is a bit knobby on the top, meant to resemble bones. It's also really tasty, as I learned when I visited El Petit Four, a terrific bakery in San Miguel de Allende, and tasted pan de muerto for the first time.

I saw my first Christmas commercial on TV yesterday, which means that the holiday season is neigh, and America's great food holiday, Thanksgiving, is upon us.

If you've got plans to visit New York City, make some time to attend the International Culinary Center's class, The Ultimate Thanksgiving Dinner. Up your game and learn how to deliver a table that's professional-chef worthy -- and enjoy dinner after the class. The class is on Friday, November 6th from 6-10 p.m.

If you're heading from New York to Atlantic City for a weekend getaway between Halloween and Thanksgiving, the party starts aboard the ACES train (Atlantic City Express Service).

Every Friday evening aboard train #7165, bar kiosks will feature a booze presentation and discounted tasting. It kicks off on October 30th with "Oktoberfest", a beer tasting, and moves on to demonstrations of drinks made with Captain Morgan's rum (November 6th), Godiva chocolate liqueur (November 13th) and ends with Bloody Marys on November 20th. Cocktails will be available at a discount and recipe cards will be available to take home.