Lessons in Frying

Our last two Fry Fridays have been attempts to perfect the falafel. Seth had never had a falafel and I had sweet memories of the falafels I enjoyed in Israel. Well...our falafels didn't turn out quite as I remembered them.

I mixed Garbanzo beans, parsley, onion, garlic, and salt in the food processor and then formed small "patties." The first week I refrigerated the patties over night. The next day when we dropped them into the fryer we noticed that they literally disappeared into the hot oil. I tried to salvage them by rolling them in flour but we were left with a crunchy empty shell.

We were able to pull a few patties out of the fryer. The finished product didn't look too bad. Seth had fried up some french fries that definitely helped out. The falafels that had disappeared provided wonderful seasoning for the rest of the oil.


The next week I was determined to conquer the falafel. I followed the recipe with a little more exactness. I formed smaller patties. I made sure the batter was not as wet.


Once again the patties started to disappear into the oil. I was a little more aggressive adding flour this time around and we were able to salvage more.


For now...I give up on falafels. Seth is determined to conquer the crispy fry. He has been researching techniques to ensure that his fries turn out crisp rather than "floppy." Wish us luck.

Couponing

My sister Sarah has recently become a coupon-er. Seth and I found a coupon for a free small smoothie at McDonald's and made a little pit stop on our way back from the big city (Greenville). With every sip we thought of how proud Sarah would be. In reality the smoothie was not free...it cost me one white sweater. I apparently got a little to carried away sipping and spilled a little on myself. Oops.

Wedding Pictures

We just got a sneak peak of some of our wedding photos. You can check them out on the Three Winks Studio Blog. Stacy got some great pictures at the Salt Lake Temple and at our reception. The picture above has to be one of my favorites. I love the look on every single face. Thank you for celebrating our Wedding Day with us.

P.S. I will do a full wedding day post soon.

Welcome to Death Valley

Seth and I attended our first football game at Clemson on Saturday. In South Carolina the one religion that everyone seems to belong to is Football. Out here game day is a full day of events. The game started at 3:30 PM but we have heard that people show up close to 8:00 AM to start tailgating. Some people pay $1,000-5,000 for a tailgating spot for the season. Many of those who tailgate don't even go to the game. They listen to the game from outside the stadium or set up big screen tvs. We saw lots of bean bag toss games, Clemson shade tents and Clemson folding chairs...it is all Clemson all the time out here. We tailgated with members of our ward and then headed to a performance by the band in the amphitheater.

We knew we weren't in Utah anymore when we saw these scantly clad baton twirlers. I guess it is a little more than a bikini...but not something you see in Utah.


Overall the band performance was good. The baton twirlers didn't do as much twirling as I would have expected...The idea of boots with this type of outfit still doesn't make sense to me.

We stayed at the amphitheater after everyone cleared out and tried to catch a little nap.

Above the amphitheater they had a little 9/11 memorial. I still remember where I was when I heard about the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. I remember being absolutely glued to the television the entire day.


We found out the hard way that backpacks are not allowed into the stadium. We had to walk our backpack all the way across campus to our scooter and then come back...consequently we missed the start of the game. From what I have heard the start of a Clemson game is known as the "The most exciting 25 seconds in college football." Apparently they drive the players in buses from one side of the stadium to the other. Once the players arrive they get out of the buses and enter the stadium. Memorial Stadium is known as "Death Valley" because Clemson has an impressive winning record at home. A former coach was given a rock from Death Valley in California that they players all gather around for good luck. Then they run down a hill into the stadium as balloons are released. Don't worry we have learned our lesson and won't miss the most exciting 25 seconds of the next game.

I thought that all stadium fields faced North-South so that the sun would not be in the players eyes. Apparently this is not the case in Death Valley. The stadium field faces East-West which means almost all of the fans are in direct sunlight the entire game. It was hot.

The stadium is huge. I have never seen so much orange in one place. Not the most flattering color on me but I will try to manage. A lot of co-eds dress up for the game. They were bright orange or purple sundresses and cowboy boots.


In the picture above and below you will see the East end of the stadium. This is the hill that the players run down at the start of the game. It is literally a hill. It is general seating and everyone just crams in. We also noticed that the goal posts don't have nets so the fans in this section have to play close attention when the field goals are being kicked. Unlike baseball if you catch the football, you don't get to keep it.


We had a great time at the game. It is a little to surreal to sit at a new college. I felt like I was an outsider looking in. We have a lot of chants and fight songs to learn...wish us luck.

Mello Yello

Seth rediscovered a drink he remembers from the 80s. Mello Yello apparently competed with Mountain Dew in the West and lost...it won in the East and is available everywhere. I think it tastes like Sprite, the only difference is it has caffeine. I have no recollection of Mello Yello but Seth remembered the drink and a little jingle. We searched on You Tube and found a few commercials that made me laugh. The Mello Yello jingle for all of the commercials is:

"Look out mouth, watch out hips, I'm bringin' the world's fastest soft-drink to my lips.
Mello Yello makes you feel so good so fast, from your head down to your toes.
Mello Yello makes you feel so good so fast, you just can't drink it slow.
Look out mouth, watch out thirst, this Mello-Yello's as good as the first.
Mello Yello makes you feel so good so fast."

Look it up on You Tube...it will make you laugh too. Well after watching a few commercials Seth realized that the jingle above was not what he had remembered. He was a bit dissapointed to realize that Mello Yello and the song "Mellow Yellow" by Donovan were not related. The lyrics for this song are a little catchier and have been stuck in my head for the last week. In case you have forgotten this song see the first verse and chorus below.

I'm just mad about Saffron
Saffron's mad about me
I'm just mad about Saffron
She's just mad about me

{Refrain}
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow
(Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

I find myself humming this little song all the time. We also found that GAP had used it as a song in a tv commercial back in the 90s. My favorite treat so far is mixing Mello Yellow with rainbow sherbet...if you come visit us we will make you one.

Happy Birthday

My Nana would have turned 100 on September 7th. Who is Nana you ask...My grandmother Gladys Emma Judd Wilde. My cousin Shelly was the first granddaughter and started calling Nana "Nana." The name stuck for all of the grandchildren that followed. When my nieces and nephews were born we considered having them call my mom "Nana" but we realized there could just be one Nana. So my mom has become Nona, which happens to mean grandmother in Italian.

Nana died just over 5 1/2 years ago. We teased her about holding out until she was 100. We tried to convince her that it would be wonderful...she could be spotlighted on the Today show by Willard Scott and we would put an add in the local paper. She was not convinced.

Nana was the oldest daughter to Sarah Edna Vernon Judd and Frank Melvin Judd. She had 10 younger siblings (Roy, Vernon, Glen, Grant, Ken, Rulon, Lois, Margaret, Dot, and a Baby Judd a stillborn.) She was raised in Hoytsville, Utah. I remember her telling me that she used to ride a horse to her piano lessons. She also had a lot of chores to keep the family and farm going.

She met my grandfather Byron Farnsworth Wilde and they fell in love. I love the picture below because you can feel how in love they were.

They were married on May 4, 1834 and sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on May 10, 1939. The moved to Park City and began their life together. They tried to get pregnant for at least 9 years and didn't think they would be blessed with a family. By some miracle they had 4 children in 4 years.

In 1953 life would drastically for Nana. Byron died unexpectedly from complications from a surgery. Nana was left to raise 4 children under the age of 10. With the support of her family back in Hoytsville and good neighbors in Park City she was able to make ends meet. I wonder what I would do under the same circumstances and I hope that I would have the same courage that Nana had. I hope that I could pull myself out of bed each day and "Keep Calm and Carry On."

So many childhood memories of mine include Nana. Here are a few of my favorite:

• Overnight stays at her house when my parents went out of town
• Her hilarious commentary as we opened presents on Christmas morning
  
• Picking raspberries in her raspberry patch
• Eating fresh beans and peas from her garden
  
• Clipping fresh roses to take to the graves in Coalville and Hoytsville over Memorial Day
  
• Watching Parades and catching candy in Coalville
  
• Her offer to buy us a Whopper at Burger King when we ran errands
  
• Walking over to watch the fireworks at Sugarhouse Park
• Drives in the old Mustang
• The pink chair in her front room
  
• The gingersnaps that filled her cookie jar
  
• The cinnamon rolls that she would cook just for us
• The wide brimmed hats she would wear every time she walked outside
• The braids in the hall closet that she had cut off when she was a child
• The ping pong table in her basement
• The organ in her front room
• The book about Easter Eggs that she would read to me
• The saying "I don't know anything new or different"
  

Happy Birthday Nana! You often said "I don't know why I'm still here." Well I know exactly why you were still here...you were here to touch the lives of your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. You just had 17 short years on life with your sweetheart...now you have him for eternity.

Crossroads

I have often wondered how many times my path crossed Seth's before we "really" met each other. How many times in the last 10 years had we crossed paths. When we first started dating I realized that we had a lot of friends in common. I am confident that Seth's name and picture came up on Facebook under the "People you may know" column. It turns out that a year before we started dating, we sat on the same row at a Utah football game. Our friend Lizzie had invited Amy, Me, Seth and a few other friends. All I remember is that there was just one boy in this group of 5-6 girls. But for some reason I must have not been ready to really "meet" Seth. A year and two months after the pictures below were taken we finally "met." All I can say is that I am happy that our roads finally merged and that we can continue our journey through life together.