Popcorn for a Movie Premiere

This week has been a fun, busy, and celebratory week. Also a week filled with eating out, hence the lack of blog posts.  If I am honest with myself and everyone else, very few creative kitchen adventures were happening.

*Monday was Matt's birthday. We didn't actually get to celebrate it on Monday because his final grad school project was due.  Instead of doing anything out of the ordinary, we ran by his favorite fried chicken stand and got him some dinner there.  Because I hate that chicken stand with a passion (and don't eat chicken), I made the world's easiest pot pie recipe that night for my dinner.  As a reminder, here's the link:  http://laundryroomkitchen.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-worlds-easiest-dutch-oven-vegetable.html    (Is it tacky to put a link about one of your own blog posts in another blog post?)  It was again delicious and we ate the leftovers for lunch throughout the week.

*Tuesday we went out to trivia with some friends. We got second place which means we got $30 in bar cash which means we will be going again sometime very soon.  We are very excited about that!

*Wednesday was Matt's birthday celebration dinner out.

*Thursday we double-dated it up with some sweet friends at our favorite local restaurant.  Thanks for a fun night, Lily and Joe!

However, before the Thursday double-date action began, Matt and I took on the task of making one hundred cups of popcorn and putting these one hundred cups of popcorn into one hundred small sandwich baggies.  Why in the world might we be doing this?  Because my husband is a dedicated teacher that is why.

Matt leads a Movie Club throughout the school year and Friday was the premiere of the Movie Club's big movie.  Matt had everything prepared for the showing. He had a red carpet for the Movie Club kids to walk down. He had other students to act like paparazzi. He was prepared to interview each Movie Club kid about their role in the film. The only thing he needed was popcorn for his movie viewers to enjoy.  Luckily for him, he married a woman who loves to make some popcorn.   I often scoff at people who make microwave popcorn.  Why make microwave when making homemade popcorn with oil, popcorn kernels, and a large pot is just so easy and so much tastier?!?  And with that mindset, we set off on filling one hundred small bags with some homemade popcorn.

The movie premiere was a hit and so was the popcorn!  Matt only had about ten bags out of the one hundred left when the event was over. I am guessing that the rest of the popcorn will 1) be eaten by myself or 2) used as a Christmas decoration.  Only time will tell!
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Homemade Popcorn Instructions

Add enough oil to cover the bottom of a large pot that has a lid.  Turn heat on medium.  Add enough popcorn kernels to cover about 3/4 of the bottom of the pot.  Add lid and keep heating.  Once you hear the first kernel pop, give the pot and lid a good shake.  Shake periodically throughout the popping process, every 1-2 minutes.  Once there is a lull in the kernels popping (about 5-10 seconds between pops) turn off heat.  Pour into another big bowl.  Add salt, butter, or whatever your heart desires. Enjoy!

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