Wacky Wednesday

or How Being Nice can Backfire - complete with a recipe

Do you have any idea what this is a picture of?
I thought about having you guess, and maybe I still will, but I'll go ahead and tell the story anyway (which ought to give it away).

The other day while we were relaxing and watching tv, my dear husband said that some caramel popcorn would sure taste nice. That was a pretty easy wish to grant, so the next commercial break I got out the hot air popper and started making some. I had noticed the last couple of times I used it that this wonderful wedding gift is showing it's age and isn't as reliable as it used to be, but most of the popcorn does pop so it hasn't been replaced yet. Anyway, this particular time as I was spinning the bowl to keep the popped corn from falling out on one side, a kernel escaped and came flying at me. It landed on my neck and then fell down my shirt. It was HOT and I'm sure I looked very funny jumping around trying to get it off of me. Fortunately, no one was looking, so there's no photographic proof of those antics. However, I finally understood why in the lessons for pre-schoolers where you spread the blanket and let the popcorn pop in the middle they warn you to keep the kids away. Flying popcorn kernels are dangerous!!

Here's the recipe - from my college roommate Allison - and it is delicious!

Caramel Popcorn

1 cup brown sugar
½ cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup light corn syrup
2 batches popped popcorn (one of these days I'll measure it, about 2/3 cup unpopped)

Combine sugar, butter and corn syrup in small saucepan. Bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes, then pour over popcorn. Stir well and turn onto waxed paper to set up. Store in a tightly covered container. Note: can use white sugar and desired food coloring for “holiday” caramel corn.