Popcorn

I've loved popcorn as long as I can remember. When I was a kid, there was nothing like a batch of popcorn cooked on the stovetop, then doused with my mother's homemade butter.

Thank heavens I was later to marry a man who likes popcorn. Had a discovered he didn't care for it, our marriage surely wouldn't have survived these 45+ years. We've made popcorn on the stovetop, we've made it over an open fire in a cage-like basket, we've made it almost every way imaginable.

A few years ago Ken and I fell into the habit of making popcorn in those microwaveable bags. We loved the popcorn; it was full of flavor and it popped well.

 I began to suspect that all of the additives in the bag were not particularly healthy, though, so I switched us over to the brown-paper-bag-with-a-smidge-of-oil method. Ken perfected this method, but I found it a tad messy. In the mornings I'd have to wipe up from the counter the oiliness from the paper bag. Inevitably there was messy oil in the microwave, too.

I was willing to continue with this method of making popcorn, until I read about the Chef'n Poptop microwave popcorn maker.

I didn't rush out and purchase it, though. I was a bit skeptical that the popcorn made in it was all that good.

But then a week ago, while reading someone's blog, I found that she had received one of these popcorn-maker bowls for Christmas, and she raved about the popcorn it produced.

I ran it past Ken; he was open to the idea of giving it a try. I sat right down and ordered one from Amazon (at less than $20).

We've had it about a week now, and we're hooked. Each batch is a little better than the previous one. The maker does take some getting acquainted with: the amount of popcorn, the amount of oil, the length of time to microwave it and at what power,...all of this takes refining. But now we're enjoying a big bowl of popcorn with much less effort than with any of our previous cooking methods. Last night I even topped the popcorn with some real butter. It wasn't as good as my mother's butter, but it was good just the same.

Eggshells and coffee grounds

I like to make my own concoctions for household use whenever possible. I make my own window cleaner (white vinegar and rubbing alcohol added to water in a spray bottle); I use Borax to scrub the bathroom sink and tub; I use a drop or two of tea tree oil in my homemade nasal rinse for my sinuses (with salt and baking soda); I use plain old salt to scrub pots and pans: the list goes on and on. If I can avoid the chemicals found in prepared cleaners, and if I can avoid their expense, then I'm all for it. (I keep at least one, if not two, gallon jugs of white vinegar on hand at all times because of its many uses.)

I read on Pinterest recently of a homemade fertilizer for houseplants, so of course I immediately mixed up a batch: a jar almost full of water, some egg shells, and some coffee grounds. (Egg shells and coffee grounds had previously gone directly into our compost bins outdoors.) Let the mixture sit (out of the sun) for a week or so, then strain it and feed the dark, rich liquid to your houseplants.

The directions don't say how often to feed this to the houseplants nor at what strength, so I've been adding a cup or so to my watering can, adding water to the top, and feeding it to my plants about once a week.

I usually water my African violets from the bottom up by placing the pots in my prep sink with about 3" of warm water. Now I add about 1/2 cup of liquid fertilizer to the sink as well.

My plants are definitely much healthier this winter than they were last winter. Their leaves are dark and almost shiny, and they're starting to bloom!

This afternoon I emptied out the old coffee grounds and egg shells, which I'd simply been adding to for the past several weeks. I'll put the used grounds and shells into my compost bin for my outdoor garden this spring.

Meanwhile, I'll start a new batch of this "tea" in the jar.

I haven't been certain whether the egg shells should go into the jar as is from a freshly-cracked egg, so I've been zapping them in the microwave on high for 30 seconds or so before adding them. If the membrane peels off easily from the shell, I remove it; if it doesn't, I just leave it there.

One major mistake I made about a week into this new experiment was adding some banana peel to the mixture. I figured some more potassium would be great, since banana peels work well with my roses and tomato plants outdoors.

Wrong! The banana peel created a gooey, gelantious, disgusting glob in the "tea" jar. I quickly learned to leave it out of the concoction.

I should caution you that this mixture does carry a certain odor, but if you leave your nose out of the jar, you should be fine. Give it a try. Your houseplants will thank you.

Knitting for Bitty Baby

When my friend Lynn told me she was planning to buy a Bitty Baby doll for her three-year-old grand daughter, I asked if she'd mind if I did some knitting for the doll.

Lynn thought that was a good idea, so that's what I've been doing for the past couple of weeks. I've found several free doll clothes knitting patterns on the web.

So far Bitty Baby has a dress, two rompers (which I think are adorable, to be honest), a hooded cardigan, a sleeveless cardigan (because I ran out of yarn), and a blanket. If Bitty Baby is going to live in Maine, she's going to need warm clothes, for heaven's sake!

I'm thinking I might attempt to make the doll a Moses basket, too. I'll use clothesline rope, as I used for the baskets I made this past spring. I think it'll work just fine.

We shall see.

Just a little tribute

We lost our dog, Molly, on New Year's Eve day. If you have never loved a dog, then the loss might seem rather insignificant to you, and that's OK.

But when you've had a dog for thirteen years, and she has inserted herself into your heart and made herself right at home there, then the loss is significant.

When I would take a nap on the sofa, Molly would join me. If my toes felt a bit chilly, she somehow knew to place her warm paws over and around my toes to warm them up.

If Ken felt like taking a quick nap on the floor instead of in his recliner, Molly felt like taking a nap beside him. (So, too, apparently, did Pink Piggy)

Here's Molly after what must have been a wild night on the town.

Violet tried to sketch Molly one time. All was going well until Molly grew tired of being an artist's model: she simply got up and walked away, leaving Violet in dismay.

Every Maine snowstorm requires shoveling off the deck. Ken and Molly attended to the task promptly.

In the evenings, as we watched t.v., Molly's favorite spot was at Ken's feet.

Molly and Violet were pals.

I couldn't have asked for a more patient knitting assistant.

 Time to replace the screen door with the storm door? Molly liked to help.

Here she is again assisting with my knitting. She's holding down the directions for me.

She's probably getting ready to beg for a biscuit here. She did love her biscuits and liked to be rewarded for the simplest accomplishment.

She and I are napping again.

Molly was diagnosed with lymphoma on December 24. I assumed we'd have her with us for several more weeks.

I was wrong. She went down hill fast, and we had to make the decision to euthanize her on December 31.

So that was our girl Molly. I still find myself looking for her when I walk into the living room. In the night, I still think I hear her dog tags jingling on her collar.

I suppose it'll take time to get used to having Molly gone.