Green Giant asked me to write about a favorite surprise talent of my own, or of a family member and I couldn’t really think of anything for myself as I’m not so much talented as I am just plain awkward. But my family is really talented. My sister made it through a round of auditions on American Idol. My husband can juggle. My father once wrestled a full grown alligator with his bare hands. And my grandmother could yodel.
My grandmother could yodel. Not just a little bit of a yodel but a real, genuine West Virgina yodel. As a kid I tried so hard to learn how to do it (because nothing makes you cooler than knowing how to yodel in the sixth grade) but I just couldn’t quite get it down. It’s harder than it seems, yodeling. It was her surprise talent, one that we would pester her to trot out at family gatherings and she would start off shyly in response to our requests but once she got going she yodeled fiercely, with passion and it was awesome.
I hate that the skill passed from our family when she did. It’s such a sweet memory for me, a such a novel thing. “My grandmother, she could yodel!” I tell people when recalling stories about her. I rooted for a girl on The Voice last year just because she could yodel and I’d really like people to bring yodeling back. Get on that, Kelly Clarkson.
You’re probably wondering why Green Giant cares about surprise talents and it is because they just launched a series of videos on Youtube showcasing people with surprise talents to celebrate the release of their own” Giant Surprise” – their new line of veggie chips! They sent us a few bags to sample and I preferred the Green Giant™ Multigrain Sweet Potato Chips with Sea Salt while Jeff preferred the Green Giant™ Roasted Veggie Tortilla Chips in Zesty Cheddar. He likes cheddar flavored anything and I could eat sweet potatoes every day of my life so we just agreed to each take a bag for ourselves.
The verdict? They tasted really good. I still prefer my sweet potato chips to be 100% natural so I’m not so sure they’ll be a staple on my grocery list but Jeff likes to switch up the chips I pack in his lunches pretty frequently so the cheddar flavor will probably make a reappearance for him. You can see from the photo below that he’s pretty much annihilated our sample bag. That boy really likes chips.
(My grandmother, when she was a beauty pageant yodeler. Green Giant chips, not beauty pageant yodelers.)
