I guess this is a Minnesota thing, but my family seems to eat more JELL-O than even most Minnesotans I know! I got to be pretty good at making JELL-O when I was a kid. When my brother felt overworked on the farm, he'd complain that "all Debbie ever does is make JELL-O" (not true, of course!). My family's favorite JELL-O is lime with cream cheese, pears and Cool Whip (see recipe below). I've heard that JELL-O is the official state snack of Utah [1], and that more JELL-O is consumed per capita in Utah than in any other state [2,3], but I have yet to experience any JELL-O other than my own [4].
     
 
This JELL-O was my contribution to our engagement! We had our official Valentine's Day date on Saturday (February 12, 2000), and that's when Steve proposed. But Steve came over to Green Hall for dinner on the real Valentine's Day, and I wanted to make something special, so I came up with this cute heart JELL-O.    
     
 

Left: This "Yummy Gummy JELL-O" that I made for a GCF social was my first attempt at JELL-O art. It definitely looked better than it tasted! The gummy fish apparently weren't very happy about being put into JELL-O, because they lost their gummy-ness and became quite gross.

Above: When Dole came out with "Sea Creatures" pineapple, I knew it was time to try again! This JELL-O creation tells the story of one of Stead and Jingli's sailing attempts (the red thing is a capsized sailboat). You can't see it in the picture, but this JELL-O has a "sandy" (lemon with cream cheese) bottom.

     
Does Stead really think that eating JELL-O with chopsticks is a good idea, or was he just hoping to make another appearance on my JELL-O web page? And he's not even from Minnesota!  
  I have two things to say. One, my JELL-O wins. Two, this isn't a competition. What were the chances that Ed, who never brings JELL-O even though he is also from Minnesota, would bring orange JELL-O with mandarin oranges to the GCF potluck when that's what I was bringing, too?!?
   

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