Bottling Wormy Pears

26 Sep 2013 2 Comments

by Natalie in Cooking/Attempting to Cook, Failed Housewife

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I found this creepy worm while trying to bottle pears. You can see its disgusting, wriggly body in the left center of the picture.

Would you like a few worms with your freshly bottled pears? Neither would I. That is why I ended up chucking an entire half-bushel of Bartlett pears.

I should have known. When I saw an online ad for pears that were half the price of any place nearby. That was a red flag.

When I drove into the heart of a broken down city scrambling to find a rundown home on the side of a dirt/gravel road I should have suspected. That was a red flag.

When the guy insisted on cash only. When he mentioned that he doesn’t spray his trees because likes to grow his pears “organically.” When he told me it was his first year selling.

Red flag, red flag, red flag.

I texted this to my husband while getting ready to leave:

“I entered the ghetto, bought pears and lived.”

Red flag!

But I was so proud of the fact that I stumbled upon a great deal, I was blinded by the price tag. I should have paid $10 more and got a box of beautifully sized worm-free pears.

But I didn’t. I called the number of the online ad, drove to a shady part of town, picked up my pears and a week later busted into three of them only to find three small, peach colored wriggly worms staring back at me.

Disgusting.

I could have dealt with one worm. Maybe even two.

But by the time I saw the third worm I was ready to throw up. I quickly dumped all of the pears into a plastic sack and made my husband toss them in our outside garbage can.

One half-bushel gone. Wasted.

photo-95I was all set up and ready to whip out several bottles of beautifully white, halved pears. I went to bed pearless.

I was sad. My husband was happy. That meant he didn’t have to help me peel, core and bottle a bunch of pears.

I swore off bottling pears and decided to buy a case of cans of pears to get us buy this year. There’s no way you can get me to cut open another raw pear for a long time.

I should have forked over a little more money to get a quality product. Sometimes my frugality leads to bigger problems.

Next time I’m going to a well-known fruit stand. Somewhere I wouldn’t be scared out of my mind to go back to and get a refund if the pears were worm-infested. Somewhere that is highly unlikely to have wormy pears to begin with.

To heck with saving a buck next fall, I’m going somewhere I can trust.

Dutch Oven Bug-Cooking Disaster

19 Sep 2013 2 Comments

by Natalie in Cooking/Attempting to Cook, Parenting Battles, What's a mom to do?

IMG658

A slug roasting on our Dutch oven lid.

It’s a miracle any of my children survived to eat the Dutch oven lasagna we cooked last week. Cooking outside in the wild ended up being just that – wild.

By the time we were ready to eat it I was ready to throw in the towel on motherhood. I swear I’m not cut out for most of these things.

I was cleaning up inside while my husband set up the Dutch oven in our cooking pit outside.

When I made it outside to check on our meal I was greeted by my two oldest boys who were so excited to show me something in a bubble bottle they couldn’t hardly contain themselves.

What was it?

A drowned Black Widow Spider. I’m not kidding. I’ve lectured them about touching them. I’ve tried to scare them to death with stories of how they will infect them with poison. But they just don’t seem to get the fact that spiders are dangerous. And Black Widows are number one or two on the danger list.

They assured me that they didn’t “touch” it. They used a set of pliers to pluck it from our backyard window well. Then they drowned it in the water.

Repulsive.

What was even more repulsive was when my husband dumped the stupid spider out of the bottle and it started wriggling around on the ground. The “drowned” spider was still alive and kicking.

I’m going to have to bug bomb my entire house to keep from having spider-fang-piercing-my-skin nightmares.

After the spider episode I went to the backyard to look for some cantaloupe from our garden. I was so stoked about a yellow-orange melon that fell off our vine that I forgot to keep an eye on our one-year-old. Where was he headed? You guessed it, straight for the fire-hot Dutch Oven.

The next thing I knew he was screaming and crying. He had burned two of his cute, chubby fingertips on the hot metal oven. I was horrified.

I can’t believe I forgot to keep him safe. Worst. Mother. Ever.

It took forever to calm him down. I kept running his hand under the cold water in our bathroom wishing it were my fingers that were burned not his.

To make me feel even better, my oldest son pointed out at dinner that it could have been much worse. Our baby could have fallen into the Dutch oven pit and burned his face.

Nice. Thank you for the mental image. At that point I couldn’t have felt worse.

We all went back outside and my two oldest got in a fistfight over a toy. My oldest ended up punching my five-year-old in the mouth several times.

I carried swollen mouth boy into the house and made him sit on one couch while the aggressor was forced onto the other couch. They sat in timeout for several minutes. Those were the calmest minutes of the night.

Then they were let off time out and back outside.

Just before our meal was done cooking, I heard my oldest shouting next to the Dutch Oven. Seriously? I thought he was burned too. But no, it was only his slug that was burned. And he wasn’t mad that it was roasting on the Dutch oven. He was mad that he dropped it prematurely.

Turns out that while my husband and I were cooking lasagna on the inside of our Dutch oven, our oldest two boys were cooking up a bug buffet on the outside.

Disgusting.

They were grilling insects on the lid of the oven. I nearly threw up.

In one hour my children had handled a wickedly dangerous venomous spider, boxed their brother’s face swollen, burned blisters to the tips of their fingers and roasted a delicious dinner of grasshopper and slug.

They were out of control and I was ready to give up.

The only thing that made me feel better was eating two giant slices of the homemade Dutch oven lasagna.

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It was delicious.

Then I went to bed, pulled the covers over my head and prayed that the next day would be more serene.

Luckily it was. Otherwise I may have quit.

What’s In a Name?

12 Sep 2013 2 Comments

by Natalie in Dealing with Death, My Angel Baby

DSCF8921It’s crazy how one four-letter word can stop me in my tracks. If I hear one word, one name to be specific, my heart skips a beat and I have to catch my breath.

Luca.

The Italian name of my angel baby. My third son who I delivered stillborn at 37 weeks.

It’s been three and a half years since I buried my little Luca in a tiny grave beneath a dark granite marker with that name etched in stone.

But no matter how long it has been, when I hear his name a river of emotions rushes through my mind and I pause.

If a friend or family member says it I usually smile – happy that they dare speak his name. So many people skirt around the topic of my dead baby. I think they worry that if they talk about him it will remind me of my loss.

They don’t realize I think of him all the time.

My little Luca.

My husband wanted to give each of our sons an Italian name. He started working on me the moment we found out I was pregnant with our first, trying to get me to warm up to names like Vincenzo and Lorenzo. I don’t write the names of my living children on my blog, but you can easily guess that none of them have a nickname of “Enzo.”

I love Italy and the Italian language but not its male names.

By the time we were on baby boy number three I had really warmed up to Luca – the Italian form of Luke. It was unique, yet normal. Easy to spell and easy for Americans to pronounce.

Because it’s such a different name, I don’t hear it and I’ve never, ever seen it in print- until this month.

I’ve seen it twice in the most random places and both times it made me smile.

I ran across the name of Luca while reading the book “Wonder” by RJ Palacio. One of the main character’s schoolmates is named Luca. I think the book only mentions him twice and probably only dedicates one sentence to him but it made my day.

Then last week my family found Luca’s name on a paper plate. One of the Zoo Pal character plates is named Luca.

And although Luca is a crazy looking brown monkey, we were all so excited to see him.

My five-year-old ate his dinner from a Luca plate and I couldn’t help but wonder what Luca would have done if he saw his name on a plate. Probably what any 3-year-old would have done – fought his older brother for it.

Although it’s sometimes painful to think of my baby boy, it’s also exciting to see his name around.

Luca.

I don’t think it will happen often, but each time it does it will be a subtle, happy reminder of my angel baby.

I just might have to buy each safari pack of Zoo Pals I come across so I can hang on to one more treasure that reminds me of him.

Stop Smoking – It’s Bad for the Environment

05 Sep 2013 4 Comments

by Natalie in What We Do/Make for Fun, What's a mom to do?

stop smokingMy 7-year-old son is convinced that if he can get people to stop smoking, he can end global warming.

He and his friend were outside this week passing out hand-made fliers.

They were hackling and picketing in front of my house while I did the dishes after dinner. When I went to see what they were shouting about, they ran up to me excited that they were going to get everyone to stop smoking.

“I just feel so good inside mom,” my son said.

Terrified that they were going to offend some of my cigarette-smoking neighbors by hand delivering fliers to their doors, I tried to steer them away from telling people what to do and push them into a post-the-flier-on-our-front-door direction. I told them I didn’t want them to hurt people’s feelings.

They thought about what I said, but decided to continue with a slightly altered message. They weren’t going to force people to stop smoking they would ask people nicely to stop smoking.

“Here, I’ll write ‘please’” at the top,” my son added.

And that’s just what he did. He added “please,” above the message that read: stop smoking, globel warming, naturl gas, invirement needs help. Ice burg melting. Kids that hav asmu can’t breeth http://www.stopsmokingtoday.org.

But in the end the kids weren’t really singling out cigarette smokers like I feared.

I asked them specifically what type of smoke they were talking about and they said every type of smoke – fires, cars, everything.

These two second-graders are pretty passionate when it comes to ending pollution.

They are so passionate that they ended up grabbing a tin can and banging it on the sidewalk while drumming up “donatshons” for the “Invirment.” They weren’t able to collect anything but if they did, they were going to give it to a forest ranger.

Kids are pretty amazing. My son watched a documentary last week with my husband about global warming and the melting of arctic ice caps. I’m sure that’s what inspired this campaign – a campaign that has my full backing.

Heck, I’ll support anything that my child does to try to make the world a better place.

Especially because he and his friend weren’t judging people or telling them what to do, they were on a special mission to save Mother Earth.

And that makes me feel so good inside.

Crock Pot Dinner Rolls

29 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Cooking/Attempting to Cook Tags: , , , ,

rolls 8I did it! I cooked 9 warm, fluffy, delicious dinner rolls in my 6-quart slow cooker.

I’ve wanted to do this for a really long time. I’ve thought about it, dreamt about it and wondered if it was possible. And since I’m banned from using the oven in the summer (you can read about that here and here) I’ve been craving rolls for months.

Finally on Monday I could take it no longer. I searched online for others who have used their crock pots as roll cookers and found someone else who had tried it.

That gave me inspiration. With the help of my boys, and a bag of Rhodes frozen dinner rolls, I was able to cook a bunch of rolls without heating up my entire house.

We tried them Monday and they got a little crisp on the ends so we did them Tuesday too. It was two nights of back-to-back-roll-eating goodness.

I’m so excited. Here’s how we did it.

First we greased the bottom of my crock pot with vegetable oil. We rubbed it onto a napkin then rubbed it onto the bottom of the pan.

Then we placed 9 rolls in the base of the crock pot – one in the center and eight around it in a circle.We made sure that the rolls weren’t touching the edge of the crock pot pan.

Then we put the lid on and turned the crock pot on low. We cooked it on low for 1 hour and 20 minutes which allowed the rolls to thaw, rise and begin to cook.

Then we turned the crock pot to high and cooked the rolls for another 10 minutes. (The first night we cooked them for an hour on high. I think that was a little too long and some of the roll edges got burned. You may have to play around with this time and adjust if need be.)

They ended up like this.

rolls 6

They may not have turned out as fluffy or round as other peoples’ rolls, but to me – someone who really struggles cooking normal-looking rolls – they looked beautiful.

If you want them with golden tops, I suggest popping them into the oven after they are done in the crock pot and broiling them for a minute or two. I was so happy with our rolls I didn’t bother with the broiler.

They may not have risen as high as they would have if I had baked them in the oven and they may not have been as golden, but they tasted great.
My husband pointed out that fall is coming and soon I will be able to cook in the oven again. But even then I’m sure I’ll use my crock pot to cook rolls every once in a while – especially when my oven is occupied cooking a casserole.

So there you have it – a fast, easy way to cook rolls in a slow cooker. It’s so easy my 7-year-old could do it. And he did, Monday night, which is his new night to help me cook dinner.

Thank You Morgan

22 Aug 2013 6 Comments

by Natalie in From My Heart Tags: , , , ,

Every once in a while someone will do something to redeem my faith in humankind.

Occasionally people surprise me.

About a month ago an entire city – no county – surprised me.

I wrote a post in the beginning of June mentioning my father in law and his serious health condition. You can read about that here. We almost lost him.

He suffered an aortic valve rupture and several strokes while on a trip to California. After hearing the news, my husband and I packed our three boys into our van and drove to be with him.

We spent a week in California taking turns at his ICU bedside. He made slow, gradual progress. He started out sleeping with a breathing tube and ventilator. By the time we left he was opening his eyes for short periods and nodding “yes” and shaking his head “no.”

After we came home he continued to progress dramatically. He was taken off the breathing machine and moved to a rehab center.

He was working hard to regain his strength and his abilities.
But he wasn’t the only one working hard.

During the month and a half that he was in California the people of his hometown were also working hard. They were preparing for a major fund-raising event.

On July 12 residents from all over the county packed into the Morgan Riverside Park for the Keven Clemens family fundraiser.

It was amazing. It was unlike any fundraiser I have been to.

The park was swarming with people. Many of which had to park blocks away.

fundraiser

There was crazy photo taking, face painting and carnival games for kids. There were pulled-pork dinners, soda pops and treats. There was a silent auction and a magic show. Which, by the way, my boys LOVED. (They have been trying magic tricks ever since.)

People waited in long lines to purchase dinner. Kids waited in long lines to toss a beanbag into a poster or cast their reel into a “fishing” pond. Families spent the entire evening weaving through the park participating in dozens of activities that were geared to raising money for my family.

All the food, prizes and time were donated. All the proceeds went to my father and mother-in-law.

Thousands of people came by to donate to my family – to give back to my father in law. A man who has dedicated his life to serving those around him.

I have no doubt that most of the people who came to the park that night have been impacted by my father-in-law. From various church callings to many, many baseball teams, he has helped his community and given to others.

I couldn’t pull my husband away from all of the people who wanted to express their concern and love for his father.

The night ended with a slideshow tribute to my father-in-law. I left the park late that night filled with more love in my heart than I have had in there in a long time.

I felt peace because I knew that no matter how hard his recovery my father-in-law was in good hands. His friends, neighbors and congregation members were going to take good care of him.

And that is what they have done.

My father-in-law has made a miraculously recovery. He is walking, talking and reading. He and my mother-in-law have worked extremely hard to get him to where he is and each time I see him I am amazed at how “normal” he has become. IMG_20130803_205347

I know he has been buoyed up by those around him.

So I would like to thank anyone involved with helping my family. I know few of your faces and even fewer of your names yet I cherish your sacrifice and selflessness. Thank you for taking the time to make such a horrible thing seem bearable.

Thank you for taking care of the man who, for the past 10 years, has helped take care of me. The man who was there for my wedding and the birth of my babies. The man who wrapped his arm around me after dedicating my baby’s grave. The man who taught my husband to throw a baseball, mow a lawn and respect a woman.

The man my boys call “papa.” The man they love to sit and watch Bugs Bunny cartoons with.

Thank you for reminding me that people are good. That they want to help one another through the bitter, lonely, scared-out-of-your-mind times in life. That we don’t have to go through this journey alone.

Thank you Morgan. Thank you.

Still Screaming and Pretty Much Addicted

15 Aug 2013 8 Comments

by Natalie in Trying to be a Better Mom, What's a mom to do?

Well, I’m still screaming and pretty much addicted. I must be because no matter what I do, I can’t stop. I CAN’T STOP YELLING AT MY KIDS!!

No matter how much I want to.

I started the Orange Rhino Challenge back in April – a challenge that I was able to succeed at very briefly. (You can read about that here.) I lasted a few weeks without shouting at my boys.

Then summer vacation struck.

That’s when I stopped listing how many days I was “yell-free” on the bottom of my blog. I was ashamed to admit I can’t quit. I’m not “yell-free.”

The more time I spent with my boys the harder it was to keep from screaming. The more time I spent with them the more tired I was which led to more screaming. The more time I spent with them the more messy my house was which led to more screaming.

I CAN’T STOP!!!

Tuesday night I lost it yet again. Apparently my boys lost their hearing the night before because no matter how many times I asked them to do something on Tuesday they couldn’t hear me.

More like they wouldn’t hear me.

They wouldn’t stay near me by the pond when I took them fishing. They wouldn’t keep in my sight when I took them to the train museum. And they especially wouldn’t keep away from the hose and waterspout when they were out playing in the back yard.

All things they had been asked nicely to do. More than once.

It’s not like I was asking them to clean their room or empty the dishwasher. I was asking them to listen and obey me while we tried to jam a few more fun activities into our last week of summer.

Right before bedtime I asked them to go to the bathroom and get ready to hop in the tub. I walked in a few minutes later to find them pinching vitamin E tablets with a set of heavy-duty pliers, then dumping them into my plugged bathroom sink.

That was the straw that broke this camel’s back.

I snapped. Again. My voice transformed into demon-mommy tone as I shouted for them to head to their room and hop into bed. That’s when my oldest wouldn’t stop shouting that he wanted to bath.

Over, and over, he kept shouting at me.

Tough. Luck. Buddy.

I spanked his bum, put him in bed and left the room without cracking the bedroom door like I usually do.

My 5-year-old was sobbing. He was scared to death, which made me feel really bad.

After a few minutes my oldest came out with red, wet eyes and apologized. I went in their room and told them that we all needed to start treating one another better. I told them that they needed to show me some respect.

But I doubt that will happen. They think they can walk all over me. They think that if I tell them to stop doing something they don’t have to listen, until I scream.

How can I break this scream, feel like crap, apologize, never-ending cycle?

How do other people get their kids to listen?

Maybe I should read some books written by experts. Maybe I should see a shrink. Maybe my kids should start listening.

I know I need to start enforcing more consequences when they don’t listen. I need to make sure that I follow through with my threats. They need to know that I mean business.

I know I need to get more sleep at night so I’m not always a zombie mom walking around on edge.

I know I need to take a chill pill sometimes and realize that kids are kids and that they aren’t going to listen to EVERYTHING I say.

If I can do these things I might not be able to eliminate yelling completely from my life, but I may be able to minimize it. And in doing that I may be able to minimize the guilt I feel after screaming at one of my sons.

I love them. I really don’t want to shout at them.

I might not be able to completely kick my habit, but I can try not to be quite such a yelloholic.

Fried – “30 in 30 for 30” recap

08 Aug 2013 6 Comments

by Natalie in Best French Fries in Utah Tags: , , , ,

They say you can’t have too much of a good thing. But I am here to testify otherwise. After taste-testing the 30 best fry joints in Utah, I never want to eat a French fry again.

Too. Much. Of. A. Good. Thing.

I am on French-fry overload. I’m burned out. Fried. My stomach feels like a giant grease ball and I have no desire to chomp another strip of golden grease-fried goodness again. Ever.

I think I ate enough fries to melt my brain. When adding up all of the places I visited I realized I actually went to 31 places. That was definitely one to many.

That said, there are some amazing places to get fries in Utah. But I wouldn’t vow to try them all in a 30-day time frame if I were you.

You’ll end up going on vacation for half of the month like I did and then taking double and triple doses of fry stacks each day to make up for lost time. Drive-through cashiers will look at you bug-eyed when they see three fast-food bags on your passenger seat as they hand you a fourth.

Restaurant managers will question your single-fry to go orders and look at you like you’re nuts when you rush your three boys inside their front door in their pajamas just so you could meet your daily fry quota.

Why did I do this? Because I’m a stay-at-home mom who sometimes gets bored. I wanted a little adventure in my life before I hit my third decade on earth. I thought it would be cool to try the 30 best fries in Utah in 30 days before my 30th birthday.

I did it. It was amazing at first, but at the end I was dying. Yet I finished it. Despite all common sense I threw health caution to the wind and bit the French-fry bullet.

So, I bet you are dying to know, what are the best fries in Utah? Below are my top 5. They are all so different that I couldn’t rank them in order from best to worst. But if you want to see my critique of each of the 31 spots I tried, read on. I’ll tell you what I loved and didn’t love about Utah’s greasy potato strip joints.

Let me know what your favorites are. I’m sure there are other great places I didn’t try. Maybe someday I’ll feel like checking them out!

My Favorite Fries (in no particular order): Iggys, Steph’s, Red Robin, Training Table and any one of what I call the “Big Three” (Best Burger, Big Jim’s or Crown Burger)

Tonyburgers, Five Guys and Taggerts barely missed the top 5. They were great too!

A&W:

A&WI went to A&W early on in my 30-day challenge. The fries were fresh and good, but somewhat ordinary. I really liked them, but nothing really stood out.

They were good for a fast-food joint, but very comparable to other fast-food stops like Burger King and Arctic Circle.

Arby’s:

ArbysI love Arby’s fries because they are different. I love the curl and I love the seasoning. They really can’t compare to regular fries. They are too unique.

I tried them this time with some Arby’s sauce but that was too tangy for me. So ended up eating them like I usually do – dipped in ketchup. They aren’t on my list of my top 5 favorite but they were really still really good!

Arctic Circle:

Arctic CircleI was a huge fan of Arctic Circle before they switched to the Yukon Gold fries. Before they were small and soft, now they are still really good, but they seem to blend into the traditional fast-food fry category.

They are golden, crispy and medium-sized. They are good fries, but compared to others, they are average.

Best Burger:

Best BurgerBest Burger’s fries are delicious. They are greasy, salty and crispy – everything I love in a fry. They are also the perfect size. Not to small and not too big.

Not only are Best Burger’s fries delicious, but their fry sauce is really good too. It makes the fries even better.

After tasting a bunch of different fries, I have decided that Best Burger belongs to what I like to call the Big Three. When it comes to fries Best Burger, Crown Burger and Big Jims fries taste basically the same. I love them but I know that if I’m craving salty, crispy, fry-sauce dipping fries, I can go to any of the Big Three and get pretty much the same bag of fries at each place.

So, I’m going to say the exact thing for each of the Big Three.

Big Jim’s:

Big Jim'sI thought I would never make it to Big Jim’s. I drove there three times before I finally walked away with a delicious grease bag filled with fries. For some reason they close really early – even earlier than is posted on their drive-thru window.

Like Best Burger, Big Jim’s fries are delicious. They are greasy, salty and crispy – everything I love in a fry. They are also the perfect size. Not to small and not too big.

They too have delicious fry sauce.

After tasting a bunch of different fries, I have decided that Big Jim’s belongs to what I like to call the Big Three. When it comes to fries Best Burger, Crown Burger and Big Jims fries taste basically the same. I love them but I know that if I’m craving salty, crispy, fry-sauce dipping fries, I can go to any of the Big Three and get pretty much the same bag of fries at each place.

So, I’m going to say the exact thing for each of the Big Three.

Burger Bar:

Burger BarWe have lived near Burger Bar in Roy for 8 years now and yet we have only been there a number of times.

I really liked the fries there but there was nothing special to me about them. Then again, I didn’t ask for fresh-cut fries. Maybe that would have made a difference.

The fries were good – don’t get me wrong – but they really didn’t stand out to me.

Burger King:

Burger KingBurger King’s fries were warm, soft and good. But they too fall into my fast-food category. They taste a lot like the other fast food joints I went to – Arctic Circle, A&W, etc.

They were good, but I wouldn’t go there just for their fries.

Chick-Fil-A:

Chick Fil A What can I say about Chick-Fil-A? They have perfected the waffle fry.

I love crispy fries and with waffle fries you get bits of crisp throughout. It’s like the holy pattern seals the crispness into the entire piece.

I also loved how the fries had bits of peel on the end. That added to the texture as well as the taste.

I don’t always use ketchup with my fries, but these are another batch that I dip freely. My boys and I grabbed these fries to go while driving in the van. They had the coolest little ketchup dipper package to go with.

My only complaint? Get some better drink packaging. We ordered some waters to take with us. Unfortunately the styro-foam style glasses weren’t durable enough for my rowdy boys. They poked a hole in one of the cups while playing a straw game in the back seat of my van.

Water. Was. Everywhere. (Luckily it was just water.)

Driving through South Weber with a leaky water cup made for a fun adventure. At least we had some tasty fries to hold us over while we wiped up the mess.

Copper Onion:

Copper OnionI never knew that tucked back in on the side of 300 south and 111 east in Salt Lake City was a place that had some of the coolest fries I have ever seen. And tasted.

I nearly gave up looking for this place. I had to park around the corner, hop out of the van and rush my boys down the sidewalk to see it.

But we were glad we did.

We ordered a small fry to go and waited a while to take it with us. When it was finally done, they brought it to us in a small brown box like a present. And when we opened it, we were presently surprised.

Instead of a stack of skinny-shaped fries, there sat a lump of potato-wedge goodness. These “fries” were like salty, crispy potato pieces seasoned to perfection.

They were kind of pricey – especially compared to some of the other fast-food joints, but they were really good.

I loved how unique they were. It was refreshing.

Crown Burger:

Crown BurgerI have always loved Crown Burger’s fries and burgers. This time was no different.

Crown Burger’s fries are delicious. They are greasy, salty and crispy – everything I love in a fry. They are also the perfect size. Not to small and not too big.

Crown Burger’s fry sauce is also delicious. It’s unlike any other. It’s thick and chunky – perfect dipping sauce for the perfect fries.

After tasting a bunch of different fries, I have decided that Crown Burger belongs to what I like to call the Big Three. When it comes to fries Best Burger, Crown Burger and Big Jim’s fries taste basically the same. I love them but I know that if I’m craving salty, crispy, fry-sauce dipping fries, I can go to any of the Big Three and get pretty much the same bag of fries at each place.

So, I’m going to say the exact thing for each of the Big Three.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries:

Five GuysAh Five Guys. When you walk in and see dozens of giant potato sacks next to the waiting area you know it’s going to be good.

These fries are awesome. I love that they are freshly cut with peel pieces stripped to the side. I’m not sure, but I think they are fried in peanut oil, something that I think adds to the flavor.

They weren’t exactly crispy, but that was OK with me this time. They were delicious!

Goodwood BBQ:

Goodwood BBQI had a great experience with Goodwood. I called in late one night and asked for a small order of fries to go. Then I headed to the restaurant with my three boys dressed in pajamas.

When I got there the manager knew my name, helped us through the door and visited with my boys while I picked my fries up at the bar.

I loved the size and crunch of these fries. They were wide, but thin. Kind of like steak fries. They had just the right amount of salt and peels on the sides.

They were great!

Hires Big H:

HiresThese fries were really good. They were long, thick and covered in the perfect amount of salt/seasoning ratio. They had a crisp outer shell but were nice and soft and chewy inside.

They also came with a cup of really good fry sauce.

They were so good that I had to fight my five-year-old to finish the crumbs.

Iggys:

IggysIggys fries are definitely one of my favorites. They are crispy and golden on the outside, yet soft and fresh on the inside.

Someone told me that they are twice-fried. That they are dipped in grease once then battered and dipped in grease again.

I don’t know if that is true exactly, but I do know that whatever method they use is perfect. There are small flecks of batter caked to the outside of each fry making them crispy and delicious.

Not only were these fries perfect, the restaurant gave me a giant portion for a tiny amount. It was awesome.

Who wouldn’t love a large heaping of deliciously fried potatoes?

In-N-Out:

In n OutMy boys really love In-N-Out so I decided to grab us a burger and fries from the drive through on a Friday afternoon.

Bad idea.

I think all of Davis County was at In-N-Out. I’m not exaggerating when I say that there were at least 20 cars lined up to order their food from the drive-up window. That’s when we went inside.

Bad idea.

That place was definitely crammed. We had to wait for a long time to get our food.

Sadly, after all that, this wasn’t my favorite batch of fries from In-N-Out.

I normally really enjoy their small, soft fries. I love their size. We went to California last year and while we were there we toured the site of the very first McDonald’s. There was a small museum that housed equipment from some of the early McDonald days. Inside was a metal fry-cutting hand-cranked machine. Supposedly In-N-Out started using that same machine and still uses it today.

I don’t know if that is true or not, but I love In-N-Out’s fry shape regardless. They are cut into a perfect shape.

But the fries I got this time seemed soggy and limp. Not my favorite but I am sure we will go back someday. Especially if it’s my boys’ turn to choose.

Jake’s Over the Top:

Jakes Over the TopI ordered a small cheese fry from Jake’s Over the Top with some famous Jake’s sauce on the side.

These were not my favorite cheese fries. The cheese was too hard and it peeled off of the potato before you even tried to put it into your mouth. The fries below were soggy.

Actually the best fries were the ones on the side that weren’t even touching the cheese.

Also, I didn’t really love the Jake’s sauce. I think it has too much barbeque taste for my liking and not enough ketchup flavor.

My husband and I used to order fries from Jake’s Over the Top every Wednesday after a night class during our last semester of college. Let’s just say I wouldn’t stop there weekly like that if you asked me to today.

Johnny Rockets:

Johnny Rockets 2I had never been to Johnny Rockets but my friend recommended them so I took my boys one afternoon to try out their bacon cheddar fries.

They were delicious.

Anything with greasy bacon bits sprinkled on top has got to be good. I loved the size of the fries too. They were big and thick and easy to grab.

They were definitely more expensive than the average fast-food joint, but since Johnny Rockets is a sit-down restaurant I expected that they would cost more.

I only have two complaints. One – the cheese slid really easily off of the fries making it hard to eat them together. And two – the fry sauce was kind of bland.

When we sat down, each of us was given a mini cardboard bowl that our waiter drew a ketchup smiley face in. That added loads to the atmosphere and made my boys really happy – we had to bring them home to show dad.

Oh, and as an added perk, when we finished the bacon-cheddar fries we were treated to a batch of regular fries for free.

Little Taste of Britain:

LIttle Taste of BritainI was enticed to this place by their sign that said it served authentic fish and chips. I expected to get me a package of one-inch squared fried potatoes.

I was sadly disappointed. When I opened up my white paper wrapping, a stack of regular shaped Americanized French fries stared back at me. And they weren’t really that good.

I wanted some traditional “chips” and got some mediocre fries. I won’t be going back.

Maddox:

MaddoxThese fries were really good. They were golden and crispy and salted all over.

They came to us fast and fresh and did not disappoint. Although they aren’t particularly unique, they were definitely good.

McDonald’s:

McDonaldsI have always loved McDonald’s fries. They are the type of fry I don’t even need to dip into a sauce. I love eating them plain, straight out of the box.

The only problem with McDonald’s fries is you can occasionally get a bad batch. The night I tried these out I think they were a little old. They were sort of soft and soggy instead of crispy and warm.

That said I still enjoyed eating them.

And I will continue to eat fries at McDonald’s. I am border line addicted to them – maybe there really is an addicting ingredient that they put into the grease.

They are definitely not a gourmet fry but they are quite possibly my favorite quick fix when it comes to eating fries.

McKay-Dee Hospital Mountain View Café and Grille –

McKay-DeeI have had these fries before and really loved them, but this time I was disappointed.

To put it honestly, this batch of fries looked kind of sickly. Which isn’t good for hospital food.

Each strip of fry was freckled up and down the side with tiny burnt spots. They weren’t as crispy as they have been in the past. It was almost like the burnt spots were the only parts that were cooked completely.

Luckily I grabbed a couple of cups of fry sauce to help me eat this stack. I think this was probably just a bad batch, but it turned me off to going back there for a while.

Paces:

PacesPaces fries were some of the best fast-food fries I have had. They were golden, yet soft – not crunchy.

They were kind of ordinary, yet I still really liked them and they definitely filled my bag. I got my money’s worth.

Red Robin:

Red RobinEach year I like to get Red Robin fries on my birthday. I love that if I order a burger or wrap it comes with a side of bottomless Red-Robin seasoned steak fries.

This year Red Robin was the last batch of fries I tried and I had to drag myself into the restaurant to pick up my to-go order.

Even though I was sick of eating fries by this point, I finished every last Red Robin fry. They were that good. I love that they are wide, yet crispy. I also love the salty seasoning sprinkled onto the sides.

I love Red Robin’s fry sauce. It has just enough barbeque sauce to give it a kick but it’s not overwhelming.

Red Robin has some of my favorite fries.

Steph’s:

StephsSteph’s surprised me. I was expecting this small fast-food joint in Morgan County to have traditional, ordinary fries. But instead I found that they were awesome.

They were battered and fried with extra batter attached to the sides. It tasted great and crunched as I ate my fries.

They were crunchy and golden and great. I loved them.

Taco Time:

Taco TimeTater tots. Not the traditional fry, but still a bit of potato bathed in grease and served up with ketchup. You can’t go wrong.

I really liked the tater tots from taco time. I don’t like soggy tater tots and these ones had just enough crunch to make me happy, yet they weren’t burnt.

They were really good with ketchup – so good that my boy and I fought over the crumbs. If you like tater tots, you’ll love them from Taco Time.

Taggerts:

TaggertsTaggerts also surprised me. I was expecting this side-of-the-mountain restaurant to serve very ordinary, very normal fries. But their fries were delicious.

They were soft yet battered and when dipped in their fry sauce they tasted great. They gave me a large order which I was then able to share with my family who all kept grabbing for more.

The Habit:

The HabitI may make it a habit of stopping by The Habit when I’m craving some fries. They tasted great.

They were long with a shell that crackled when you bit into them. They looked a lot like some of the other fries I picked up, but they were really good.

I’ll definitely go back.

Tonyburgers:

TonyburgerI think Tonyburgers fries are also fried in peanut oil. They have a great seasoning to them and they aren’t as crunchy as the others fries I tried.

But I really liked their soft texture. They almost melted into my mouth.

They had great specs of peels throughout and were splattered with a great amount of salt.

These were definitely some of my favorites.

Training Table:

Training TableI don’t know why there are only a few Training Tables left. Because if their business success was based upon how good their French fries were, business would be booming.

I haven’t been to the Training Table in years. I don’t even know if I have ever taken my children there. So they were extremely excited to get to order our fries by “old-school” telephone. (I don’t think they have ever used a phone that has a cord.)

I let my 7-year-old pick up the phone and order. We waited for what seemed like forever. So long that I was worried my son hadn’t ordered correctly.

But finally the yellow light lit up and the phone buzzed us that our order was ready.

It was worth the wait.

Sitting on a small white plate was a pile of beautifully golden French fries drizzled with melted, shredded cheese. The cheese pulled apart easily giving us a piece of cheddar with each and every bite.

One word: delicious. Definitely one of my favorites.

Warrens:

WarrensI have been to Warrens a number of times and have never really been impressed with the fries.

But this time, they were really good.

I loved the outer crunch they had as well as the seasoning that was sprinkled on top. They have a really unique zig-zag design that I thought was really fun. They were really fresh and golden.

Delicious!

Wendy’s:

WendysWhen it comes to fast food, I really like my Wendy’s fries. Although they are kind of salty – probably because they want everyone to experience the bliss of the new sea-salt seasoning – they are still one of my favorite cheap on-the-go fries.

I like that they are a thicker fry with tiny bits of peel on the end. I don’t always eat my fries with ketchup, but with Wendy’s fries I dip happily.

Boot Camp

01 Aug 2013 Leave a comment

by Natalie in Parties/Showers Tags: , , ,

My 7-year-old son is really interested in the military, particularly the army. So he wanted to have a miniature boot camp/drill for his birthday party a couple of weeks ago.

I don’t know the first thing about military training, but we sat down as a family and came up with a few fun drills and games to use for the party.

My husband served as sergeant and whipped all the boys into shape. I think they all had a great time.

It was one of the easiest and most fun birthday parties I have ever helped with.

We had such a good time, I decided to share with all of you what we did.

As the boys were getting to the party we had them “enlist.” They signed a paper saying that they would obey and train to the best of their ability until they became certified soldiers.

July 154

I painted their faces in camouflage colors.

July 158Then they were able to pick up their “gear bag” which included a toy airplane, mini army notebooks, pencil, grenade launcher, mini American flag and more.

July 213After grabbing their gear, they ready for training.

They started with basic marching and army crawl technique practice. Then they moved on to grenade launching. They had to practice grabbing “grenades” (grenade shaped water balloons) and launching them at two ring-of-fire targets on our front lawn. I’m pretty sure they loved doing this.

July 149July 148July 150Then it was on to shelter set up. They had to pop up our small play tent.

July 147After that they learned how to dress wounds. We played a wounded warrior game where they drew a card that listed an injury. They had 15 seconds to dress that wound. It was a riot to watch. Especially when someone drew the two-broken-arms card. (My boys helped me come up with the wound ideas).

July 146Lastly they took a turn at target practice. They had to chuck grenades at several tin cans on our ladder and see how many knocked over. Even in close range this was harder than the boys thought. But, boys will be boys. They loved throwing water balloons at the side of my house.

July 145At that point they had completed their basic training. To test all of their skills, we had them go through a boot camp obstacle course. During the course they had to crawl through a tube, set up a tent, army crawl under some “wires,” climb through a mine field, grab a flag, balance across a beam then climb to the top of our play fort and launch a grenade at a target on our back fence. If they hit a “mine” (grenade water balloon) during any part of the course they were “fatally wounded” and had to start over.

It was awesome.

July 144July 143July 142July 141July 195July 197

To wrap up the party we ended with army-style cupcakes and ice cream served in mess kits. Then the boys had army free time where they could do whatever they wanted while we waited for all of the parents to pick up their kids.

Like I said this was one of the easiest parties we have done at our house and it was so much fun. I highly recommend it!

Hooking Something I Hate

25 Jul 2013 1 Comment

by Natalie in Crazy Things I'll Do Only For My Kids, What We Do/Make for Fun Tags: , , , ,

July 088In the back of my fridge in a small white Styrofoam bowl sits something I absolutely detest – a muddy muck of worms.

The saddest part is I bought them myself.

Why would I buy something I hate? Because my 6-year-old son typed up a list of all the types of fish he wants to catch this year. Then he taped it on the back of his bedroom door. And up until I bought that nasty cup of night crawlers, we hadn’t been able to check off any of those fish types.

Now we can mark catfish off the list.

My oldest son loves fishing. He would go all day everyday if I took him. But sadly we rarely catch anything.

A couple of weeks ago I actually looked up the local fishing report before we decided where to go. It said that the Kaysville Ponds were a real hot spot for kids. A fish called a wiper was really hitting on bits of worm. WORM!

I had a serious dilemma. I could take my son to the closest pond, use our usual Power Bait and once again catch nothing. Or, I could face my fear and disgust and purchase a bunch of worms. Let me tell you, you don’t check off fish from my 6-year-old’s 2013 Fishing Goal List by sticking with Power Bait.

I did it. I walked into a gas station, went back to the small brown night crawler fridge and picked out a bowl of worm-infested dirt. I nearly gagged when my son opened it up. Those things were HUGE. And the smell! It almost did me in.

But I took a deep breath as my oldest closed the lid and proudly carried the case to the cashier. I still can’t believe I let those things in my van.

When we got to the pond I didn’t know how I was going to wriggle a worm on a hook. Let alone a bit of a worm. Somehow we were going to have to detach pieces from one of the long snake-like creepers.

Thank heavens my oldest doesn’t hate worms. I actually think he loves them. He grabbed one right off and started cutting off a piece with a knife. Then, I talked him through baiting it on the hook. I have seen my dad do this a bunch of times so I tried to describe it to him the best I could. July 089

Luckily I also happened to have a bag of marshmallows in our diaper bag leftover from our church snack pile. I put the marshmallow on, he put the worm bit on, and we cast our pole. Not five minutes went by before we already had our first fish. It was thrilling.  (Keep in mind we don’t catch fish very often.)

July 091We were fishing on a hill, which made things a little more difficult since I happened to bring my one-year-old along with his stroller, but we made do.

I hooked the fish, then grabbed my baby, ran up the hill buckled him in his stroller, ran back down the hill and helped my 6-year-old finish reeling in. We did this little dance three times before my four and one-year-olds had had enough and needed to leave.

Each of the yellow-bellied catfish we caught was tiny, yet beautiful. It was one of the funnest, wildest fishing trips we have been on. It all happened because I was willing to try something new. Something new that I thought I would hate.

We went back to the same spot a couple of days later and took my husband. We caught four catfish that night. I think we could have keep catching all night if we wanted to stay longer. It was the best.

And to think we almost missed out.

Don’t get me wrong, I still can’t believe I have a bowl full of worms in the back of my fridge. But deep down I think it both disgusts and excites me. Part of me sincerely hopes they last through a couple more fishing trips. There are more catfish to be caught.

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