A Sloppy Dog, Japanese Omelet, and Dominican Fried Rice

Three for the weekend, July 11

Six sloppy joes are available at Farley’s.

Not my mother’s sloppy joes

In my Minneapolis suburb, in common with the other moms in the neighborhood, my mother made sloppy joes once a week or so, usually for a weekday supper. Composed of loose ground beef that spilled out of its hamburger bun on all sides, the flavor was oniony and tomatoey. It differed from spaghetti sauce through the use of green bell peppers, giving it, we thought, a Spanish flavor. All the moms jokingly referred to sloppy joes as “untidy josephs,” as if to drive home the importance of politeness.