We've Gone Stir Crazy!

***Edited to add links. Click on the highlighted words!

Last week, Stacy Julian (Altogether Too Happy on my blog list) wrote about her childhood popcorn memories. Ever since, I haven't been able to get the taste of REAL popcorn out of my mind. We've eaten microwaved popcorn for years! So today, I threw the kids in the car, headed to Target, and bought a Stir Crazy popper. The Stir Crazy popper is the closest I could come to my childhood popper. But my childhood popper didn't come with a stirring arm, it came with a pitch man, and his name was Joe Namath. Who remembers Joe Namath? He was the quarterback for the New York Jets (I believe) but what I most remember is that he wore pantyhose, a fur coat, and had really nice hair. Now, my dad had a story about our popper. Keep in mind I was young, but I went along with it for years. Dad said a miniature Joe lived inside the popper, and when we plugged it in, his room got hot, so he'd take out a little hammer and pound on the ceiling. That's what made the kernels pop! Well, flash forward to my kitchen this afternoon. The stirring arm is spinning, and I've talked up the taste of this popcorn all day long. The kids loved watching it pop, (look closely at the photo, you can see them!) and laughed almost the whole time it was popping. EVERY kernel popped, and it tasted pretty good!  But then came the kids' flavor verdict. Calvin says, "It's OK", and Mason says "Needs a lot more butter. I like the microwave Movie Theater Butter!" We'll keep working on the oil-corn-butter ratio...but at least the new popper gave me a nice trip down memory lane!