I follow a few blogs. Most of them are Vegan focused because, clearly, that is my learning curve right now.
One is Peas and Thank You. I love Mama Pea's spicy posts.
She didn't disappoint the other day. I haven't made the recipe and don't know when I'll get around to it. But this caramel popcorn post reminded me of a hilarious, though a little icky, story a friend told me.
My friend has a favorite family recipe for caramel corn. A lot of folks pop the corn in a paper bag, my friend uses paper bags to actually caramel the corn. I'm not sure of the procedure but she told the following story.
Her dad (who looks a little bit like Parks and Rec's Ron Swanson sans the bodacious mustache) and sister were at home with her and it was one of those nights. Not much to nibble on in the house. A few good back to back television programs on, and the air had a tinge of brisk in it. One of the three of them decided that popcorn sounded fabulous. And as we all know how that goes, three heads together pretty soon popped out the idea of caramel corn. (If the original idea is good, pour a decadent sauce on it or drench it in chocolate to make it AMAZING!)
My friend hopped up to get the job done. She decided to make a double batch for efficiency's sake and pulled out the ingredients and paper bags.
Later, after the caramel corn cooled and hardened they polished off one of the bags. But one was not enough. (As is often true of sugar drenched or chocolate drowned goodies.) Her dad began noshing on the second bag. He stood up and turned on the light. He held up a handful of caramel corn. "This is hairy."
My friend looked at him with a Huh face and said, "Huh?" "Hairy?"
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| The annoyed cat, aka Feral Will, has nothing to do with the story. However, it's a creepy picture of a hairy critter and I'm sure he'd be thrilled to coat anyone's caramel corn with some of his fur. |
He held out his hand. "Look."
And she did. And his popcorn was covered with hair.
After a little freak out dance by the entire, now completely grossed out, party. They began trying to figure out a) how the heck they got hairy caramel corn. b) If the bag they scarfed had been covered in it too.
Here's what happened. My friend's mom had been cleaning out some closets at a relative's home. One who was going into a skilled care facility and hadn't moved in years. My friend's mom packed loads of things in containers and bags and a few found their way into my friend's house. Turns out that the elderly relative had been a hair dresser way back in the 60's. One of her grocery bags, which had probably been used to hold swept-up hair still lurked in her kitchen closet. And my friend's mom was thorough enough to use every little container she could find, even the last bag in the kitchen closet. Being the green gal that my friend's mom is, she decided the bag could be used yet again. It ended up in her kitchen closet. Where her daughter could grab it and use it for caramel corn er Caramel-and-50-Year-Old-Hair-Bits-Corn.
(Need an idea for a creepy Halloween trick? There you go.)
This probably can't be considered a Vegan Month of Food worthy post. After all, I just tell a story. And the caramel corn that is featured in the story was traditional with dairy. But, I did link to Mama Pea who is a "Go, go, Vegan!" cheerleader. And I think there is a moral to this story. It is safer to recycle paper bags that have not been used to haul meat and dairy products. aka VEGAN bags. Bonus Moral: Never, never, never, reuse a paper bag for caramel corn that has been played in by a rambunctious cat.
