Sunday Night Popcorn

We spent most of the day yesterday with the family at Kara and Adam's house in Defiance. Grandma treated us to a wonderful Chinese buffet, where we all left feeling more than satisfied, if a bit uncomfortable, from the banquet offered. And I didn't try the sushi either. I just can't.

After we got back home later in the evening, Romie wanted popcorn. After rooting through the cupboard and finding only kettle corn (my favorite, but not his), he decided he'd make regular popcorn the old-fashioned way by popping it in oil in a pan on the stove.

I always say we live in a "microwave society," meaning we want what we want and we want it now. And sometimes even that's too slow. Think about how long it takes to heat up a cup of water in the microwave and tell me you haven't stood there watching it and wondering why it's taking so long. We're so spoiled by our conveniences, of which the microwave oven is just one, that I'm afraid we're paying for them with patience, and we're running low on that when it comes to just about every aspect of our lives.

But anyway, if Romie wants his 'regular' popcorn, he's going to have to do it the hard way. It's been so long since he's made it like this that he can't remember how. We located a half-full bag of Jolly Time White Pop Corn at the back of the snack drawer (don't wanna know how long it's been there), and we had to read the label to figure out how to do it. Three tablespoons of oil, one-third cup of popcorn in a pan over medium heat with the lid on.

Boy, does this bring back memories...

When I was growing up in the '60s, Sunday night meant no supper, just popcorn. Dad would make it - yes, in the pan, because, well, there was no other way back then and we didn't have a microwave oven anyway until the early '70s. Oh, there was Jiffy Pop, and we did try it because it was cool to watch the foil expand like a balloon when the corn popped, but it wasn't as good as Dad made, and it was kind of expensive. Mom and I would get our own little bowls and we'd all settle in for the night in front of the television. Dad kept the big bowl because, after all, he made the popcorn and he would always share if we wanted more anyway.

The Sunday night line-up on television was pretty much the same, week after week at our house, and it's the night that I can remember most when I think about watching TV as a kid. It went like this:

7:00 Lassie
7:30 Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
9:00 Bonanza

I can still see the fire burning through the map of the Ponderosa ranch during the opening theme song, and then Ben, Hoss and Little Joe Cartwright riding up on their horses. Bonanza was the first network television series to film all of its episodes in 'living' color. (Yes, my dear daughters, I can remember watching many shows in black and white. I'm that old.) Once in awhile, we'd watch Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom instead of Lassie.

Dad still eats popcorn every Sunday night in front of the TV and so do we much of the time. As a dental hygienist, I think this must be somewhat of a common practice here in the U.S. because when I worked full-time, I'd find more popcorn hulls on Mondays than any other day of the week. Really!












Anyway, we popped a pan full of Jolly Time and it came out perfect until Romie put too much salt on it. He ate it anyway.