rudderless

Popcorn

I am off to start a Recipes section in the top navbar, a permanent record for me, and eventually my girls. This doesn’t quite qualify, but I just made Sophie a bowl of Popcorn for her Mary Poppins viewing (It’s Sunday, and it’s become a bit of a ritual to have popcorn and a movie). We eat a lot of popcorn in these parts, and not the microwave kind. I will occasionally throw some kernels in a brown paper bag and put them in the microwave, but that’s as close as I come. The stovetop version is just so much better.

Here’s how we do it. Put a couple tablespoons of oil in a heavy, deep pan with a lid. I use a Le Creuset dutch oven. Drop three kernels in and turn the heat to medium-high. When two of those kernels pop, put another quarter cup of kernels in (just enough to cover the bottom, you can eyeball it). Shake so everything gets oily, put the lid almost completely on (just ajar lets the steam escape), and wait. It only takes a couple minutes. Shake every now and then so the unpopped kernels fall to the bottom. Turn off the heat as soon as things slow down. If at first you don’t success, try try again.

We eat ours with salt and nutritional yeast. Yum.
We recently learned from The Popcorn Book that popcorn kernels should be stored in the refrigerator. I have noticed they pop bigger when they’re kept cold. I have no idea why.

I took a sailing course with the National Outdoor Leadership School about ten years ago and had an instructor named Dave who would make popcorn on every beach we stopped at. It was his ritual. Anchor, popcorn. Thanks to him, I will forever associate popcorn and sailing.

Besides thinking of Dave, I always think of SouleMama when I make popcorn. This post is by her husband, and is one of my favorite posts about mothering/parenting, ever.

As I write, Rosy is devouring the remnants of Sophie’s bowl. She loves popcorn about as much as she loves juiceboxes. Rosy popcorn juicebox.

A Penchant for the Homemade

I’m not sure where the domestic in me was residing, but as I age, I seem to find great comfort in the process of making stuff. Making bread. Making baby pants. I’ve even come to enjoy sewing boat cushions. On Sunday Sophie and I turned out five jars of cherry and strawberry preserves. I will never buy jam or “artisan” bread again.

Some of my inspiration comes from SouleMama’s blog and book, The Creative Family.
Some comes from cooking blogs, especially Orangette (scroll down for the potato recipe, which I am making TONIGHT).
Some comes from creating with Sophie, and the artsy sites we follow (some links on the sidebar!). We even started our own, neglected version- Mudpie.

In any event, homemade is good stuff. John insists that his favorite holiday dinner in our marital history was a Thanksgiving meal we created from nothing, tied up to an abandoned dock in Ocean City, Maryland. It was simple, good food, made mostly from scratch. It took far longer to make than it did to consume, but the event, and the process is what we’ll remember.