On this day

September 11, 2001 is a day we will never forget. On this day 10 years ago, things were different.

Personally, I was in 6th grade at Dowdell. It was my first year wearing the coveted blue & yellow Brandon FC uniform. I had never picked up a clarinet. I couldn't tell you where Gainesville was located on a map. Dr. Brother didn't know how to read yet. J was still learning how to french braid her hair.

To put it in a sports perspective, the Bucs had yet to win a Super Bowl. Mia Hamm was still playing soccer. Michael Phelps had 0 gold medals.

In pop culture, the first Harry Potter movie had yet to hit theaters. NSYNC was still making music. ENRON was a thriving company. Barack Obama was an Illinois senator. Justin Bieber was in 1st grade.

Security lines were mere formalities, nothing to sweat about. We were able to keep all of our clothes on. Many Americans couldn't locate Afghanistan on a map. Osama Bin who?

September 11, 2001 is a day we will never forget.

I was walking to lunch when my friend, Madison, told me a plane had crashed into some building in New York City. "Really?" I asked. And I kept walking. It was a weird comment but Madison was known for saying silly things.

After lunch, my teacher was called out of the classroom and came back crying. After collecting herself, she attempted to continue with the lesson without mentioning the reason for the interruption.

At this point, I knew something was wrong. Something BIG. Over the next hour, about half the class had been signed out of school. By the time me & my carpool were called out over the intercom to go home, we were all concerned. We piled into the van where Ms. Swanson told us about the events that had transpired throughout the morning.

It was my first experience with hate and it was a fast lesson.

Almost 3,000 Americans lost their lives in the attacks that day. But our enemies did not succeed. They failed to realize that our spirit can not be broken so easily. Over the next few months, Americans pulled together to support each other through the hard times. It made us stronger, prouder & more united than ever.

September 11, 2001 is a day we will never forget. God bless America.

We are all strong for old Florida

This Labor Day weekend was also the season opener for college football. The Gators had a home game and I was once again blown away by the entire Game Day experience. For those of you who haven't experienced a proper Game Day in the Swamp, I would like to impart just a teensy bit of the magic to you. Hopefully one day you'll be able to see for yourself why the Gators have the best fans in the nation.

Game Day in Gainesville for many is almost a sacred pilgrimage. Almost every weekend in the fall, thousands of people pack up their cars and drive for hours just to see their team. RVs and caravans begin arriving Friday night to fill the parking lots, garages, fields, yards, where ever they can find a square inch. Downtown Gainesville is packed with students, alumni, families and fans from all walks of life. There are even the occasional rival fans milling around that stick out like a sore thumb in a sea of gaudy orange and blue. Don't worry, we don't let them get away with it.

Then Saturday morning rolls around and you can sense "it". Your senses are bombarded by the excitement in the air. The best way I can describe it is "tangible." The game could be starting at 12:30, 3:30 or even 7 PM but tailgates start while there's still dew on the ground. A coozy in every hand, the smell of the smoking grills fills the air, and the sound of a football being tossed around. Yep, football season is back!

The festivities continue until about an hour before game time. As tailgates begin closing up shop, hoards of people migrate towards the Swamp, as if guided by some magnetic force. The sound of voices gets louder as you approach as the 90,000 swarm to get inside in time to hear 2-bits. There's an occasional chant or refrain from the crowd, just to reinforce the fact that "it's great to be a Florida Gator."

You push your way through the lines - literally - and march your way to your seat. That is, if you're sitting in the Alumni section, you're marching to your seat where you sit down. If you're heading to the student section, you head to the spot on a bench where you will stand for the next 3 hours to fulfill your student duty to intimidate the opponent by yelling as much as humanly possible.

With a few short minutes until game time, the Pride of the Sunshine marching band storms the field. As if the crowd needed more pumping up, the band fills the stadium with their traditional pre-game show that the fans have grown to know and love. As the band serenades you with the National Anthem, the stands enter a brief moment of silence. But only for a moment as the band picks up again with few more standards before heading towards the south endzone. And that's when you know the team is about to enter.

The jumbotron flashes images of a gator lurking in the swampy Florida waters. The Gator Chomp plays in the background and the anticipation builds in the stadium, arms posed in perfect gator chomps. A booming voice shakes the stadium with the classic pre-game line: "The Swamp: Only Gators get out alive!" The sound of cheers is deafening as the team races onto the field. Football season is finally here!!!

The next few hours pass by in a whirl. Between cheering on Jeff Demps & Chris Rainey, booing the opposition and chiming in during the stands tunes (I guarantee one of them will be stuck in your head for the next 3 days), it's non-stop excitement. And it's even more fun when we win!

Crowd interactions in the Swamp is a great social phenomenon. Just being there cheering on the Gators is like instantly making 90,000 friends. When the Gators score, you seek everyone within a 10-foot radius to high-five. After the third quarter and without even thinking, you throw your arm around the stranger beside you as you sing and sway to "We are the Boys." It all adds to the atmosphere and the experience. There's absolutely nothing like it.

It's great to be a Florida Gator!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

BBQ Meatballs

My wonderful boyf, PDubbs, has graciously agreed to write a guest post recapping tonight's cooking adventure. Take it away, PDubbs! -MegJo

So today I woke up feeling very crummy from my allergies. I was congested and had a sore throat. But, Megan took care of me preparing breakfast and coffee, and later some hot tea. We watched the series premiere of Pioneer Woman’s new cooking show on Food Network. The show was great, and I can’t wait for next week’s episode! Inspired by Pioneer Woman, we decided to make a dish from her cookbook for dinner. We agreed on her BBQ Meatballs, and it was definitely a good choice! I started off by preparing the potatoes for the side dish, while Megan prepared the meatballs. She formed them into perfect sized balls.

After a quick 10 minutes in the freezer, the meatballs got covered in flour.

Then they were ready for some sizzling in our new cast iron skillet!

After lightly browning them, they got covered in the yummy tomato sauce Megan prepared and baked in the oven for 45 minutes.

They came out hot and sizzlin’.

We served them alongside “Polish style” potatoes (just plain boiled to perfection potatoes), as well as a nice “Baja Corn Medley” we picked up at Sams Club the other day.

The meal was perfect and tasted amazing! There’s nothing better than doing the things you love with the person you love.

-PDubbs

Dinner for Two

In honor of moving into our new apartment (pictures to come!), PDubbs and I decided to make a fancy dinner. Something new and adventurous and fresh. During our shopping trip to Publix, we spotted beautiful asparagus bundles that we couldn't turn down. While thinking of something to do with our first ingredient, PDubbs mentioned a shortcut recipe for risotto using short grain rice instead of the typical (expensive) arborio variety. Asparagus risotto it was!

I perused Tasty Kitchen when we got home and found a recipe for Simple Asparagus Risotto from Erica Nicole of Pearls in the Kitchen. We substituted a few ingredients for what we had on hand and browned up some spicy mango with jalapeno sausage we had in the fridge. Nom nom nom!

To start, we poured in 4 cups of broth (we used chicken) to a saucepan and cover. Heat the broth over medium-low to low heat. Keep it warm throughout the cooking process to help your little rice soak up as much juice as they can.

In a separate saucepan, we added about a tablespoon of butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter melted, PDubbs added 1/2 an onion & garlic. We opted for lots and lots, about 5 cloves but we would probably add more next time for a richer garlic flavor. Like I always say, it's not enough garlic if you don't wake up the next morning to garlic breath. Just kidding, girls don't get garlic breath.

After about 5 minutes, add all 1 1/2 cups of the short grain rice and stir to coat with that delicious buttery-garlicky-oniony juice.

Once the rice is coated in yummy, add 1/2 cup of the warm broth and all of your asparagus.

And commence the stirring!

And stir and stir and stir. Once the rice has absorbed all of the liquid, add another 1/2 cup of the warm broth. Continue until all of the broth has been added to the pot. Our asparagus was still a little undercooked so we added our last 1/2 cup and put the lid on to let the asparagus cook by steam.

While the asparagus did it's thing, we browned up some sausage. We bought the fully-cooked variety so it only needed a couple of minutes on each side.

Once the asparagus was nice and tender, we stirred in some shaved parmesan and salted to taste. Then just spoon it in a bowl and plop some sausages on top. I'm not going to lie, risotto has always intimidated me with the constant stirring and after seeing Jyll's risotto disaster unfold on Next Food Network Star, I had my doubts. But this recipe was super easy to follow and the results were delicious! The short-grain rice plumped up beautifully and released it's starches to make that signature risotto consistency just like arborio. Plus, with just a splash of water, it reheated beautifully in the microwave the next day. And it's significantly cheaper - win-win! This recipe is also a great base for a variety of add-ins.

Tomatoes & basil? Yum. Lemon & rosemary? Mhmm. Black olives & sundried tomatoes? Yes, please!

Now it's time to prepare for my last fall as an undergrad. Where has the time gone?