Popcorn Lessons

I sometimes work at the Winter Park Farmer's Market selling MultiGrain Rice Cakes. (check out CoCo B2B for video on the machine).  Free samples!  Delicious MultiGrain Rice Cakes - freshly made! All natural, no fat, no sugar, no cholesterol, less than one Weight Watchers point and only 15 to 20 calories each!  Free Samples!   I feel like a carnival barker:  Heya heya heya!  Step right up!!

This and the Kettle Korn booth are both owned by a lady that I work part time for, and so our booths are side by side.  Yesterday I sold a record number of bags of rice cakes and in all my free time while I watched the machine for logjams and as I hawked my product, I watched the guy next to me cook pot after pot of kettle korn in a huge copper cauldron.  My booth can be run solo (two is better when the machine is running), but the kettle corn is a four person job, and they move about like worker ants wearing long sleeves and sunglasses and cowboy hats.  The giddyup get up isn't a fashion statement, but for safety, as an errant kernel of sizzling sugar coated corn can put a hurt on a person.  Every now and again, one would come my way, but those few extra feet of air travel cooled it just enough to sting for a second but not burn.  

This is how it's done:
First a ladle or two of oil, then a giant cup of corn, give it a swirl, add sugar, stir stir stir as it pops, dump into pan, add salt.

I usually bring home a bag, but it was such a busy day, they ran out of product and I was left empty handed. Sigh.  Today as Mark and I watched the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lose to the Saints, I took a kitchen break and whipped up my own version of kettle korn.  Here is my recipe:

You will need-
mid-sized pot with lid
popcorn oil
popcorn
sugar
popcorn salt
big bowl
large spoon

Instructions-

• In a mid sized pot with lid over high heat, swirl enough butter flavored popcorn oil to mostly coat the bottom of the pot.
• Add 4 kernels of corn and cover.  Wait to hear four pops.
• Add 1/4 cup popcorn kernels, cover and swirl just a few seconds to moisten the corn.
• Immediately add 2 teaspoons sugar.
• Cover and shake pan over high heat until popping stops.
• Dump into big bowl and give a few shakes of fine popcorn salt (to taste).  Stir well with a large spoon.

I have a glass top stove and it worked fine.  In fact, I think shimmy-shaking the pan was much easier on the smooth surface.  David came in and liked it so much, I taught him how to make his own batch.

On Writing a Book

On Labor Day morning I woke up with a start, gasping for breath at the depth of what I had just dreamed.  And from this I began to write!  Mark came in and I gave him one of those talk to the hand, I cannot be disturbed motions and he knew I was on a roll.  An hour later, he approached me as I continued to bang away at the keyboard and asked, "What are you doing, writing a book??!"  My talk to the hand palm goes up instantly and I nod.  This is my husband, who wants to talk to me, so I stopped, saved my work, and answered with a definite YES.

After many revisions and more dreams and a two week vacation and hiatus from writing, I now have a 30 chapter draft that is 53 pages long.  Each chapter needs many more pages added to it to make a true book, but my friends that have read it say my story a page turner.  EL James had better move over!  I have a winning book on the horizon and this one is clean!