Popcorn Popper

My parents-in-law recently got back from their vacation. They drove through Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia. Anyway, when they came back, they gave me a few souvenirs.

The first souvenir is a keychain. The front side has my birthday (May 13th) and some information about that particular day in history: “US declares war on Mexico 1846.” “Pope John Paul II shot in St Peters Square 1981.” “Joe Lewis, boxer born.” “I was born!” The other side has some information about people that were born on that day: “People born on this day can handle any emergencies. They are loyal to friends. Usually good time keepers. They pay good attention to detail.” I thought that the information came close in describing what kind of person I am.

The other souvenir, which will probably be the most used, is a hand-crank popcorn popper. For those who know me very well, they know that I could live on popcorn. I have a few air poppers, but air-popped popcorn just doesn’t seem to hold salt and butter well. Also, I have microwavable popcorn, but usually, there’s too much salt and butter. I figured that with the hand-crank popper, I could get the best of both worlds.

I was planning to wait for my wife to get home from work before I tried it out, but I just couldn’t wait. In retrospect, I probably should have. I spent a few minutes washing the pan and then seasoning the pan. My first batch of popcorn only took two minutes. Unfortunately, the heat was a tad too high and I didn’t put in quite enough oil. Consequently, I had a few burnt pieces. The rest of the batch (with some salt and Parmesan cheese) was just fine. The bottom of the pan, however, was a different story. With the combination of high heat, low oil and not cranking fast enough, I had welded a few pieces of popcorn to the bottom of the pan.

After about a half hour of washing, drying and re-seasoning, the pan was as good as new. My second batch was better. I had the right amount of oil, but my heat wasn’t quite high enough. Instead of taking the recommended three minutes to pop, it took over five minutes. However, with no burnt pieces this time, cleanup was a breeze. I figure that it will take me a few more times before I get the hang of it though. In the meantime, I think I’ll go make some popcorn.

Tagline for today: “You know how it is when you decide to lie and say the check is in the mail, and then you remember it really is? I’m like that all the time.” - Steven Wright