The Great Popcorn Fail, with an Encore! I wanted to ditch the expense of commercial microwave popcorn bags along with their chemicals, fat, and excess salt. Finding popcorn on the cheap was easy: 30 ounces for $3 at Walmart = 10 cents per 1 ounce batch! Then, after a little research online, I found an easy way to make this healthy snack in the micro with nothing but the popcorn kernels and a brown paper bag. This method left some kernels unpopped, which didn’t bother me at all, because the popcorn was so cheap. I just threw them away. Unfortunately, these little nuggets of almost popcorn drove our sweet popcorn fiend to popcorn-induced insanity, and she continued to pop them until they ALL popped, every single one,…and the brown paper bag was on fire! Okay, it’s pretty obvious we needed a safer method of popping corn, so I scoured the internet and found what I thought was a truly FOOLPROOF method, but as you will see, I was the FOOL, and I have PROOF! It looked like the perfect solution — just put about 1/8 cup of kernels in a large, microwave-safe bowl, set a plate on top, and then set the time, 1 minute and 15 seconds. It worked great; my red plastic bowl didn’t even get warm. So, great idea, right? Well, apparently not at our house. Our popcorn fiend, again, absolutely couldn’t stand to leave the “old maids” unpopped, so she again put them back in the microwave and increased the time to make absolutely sure they ALL popped this time,…and they did. Popcorn-greed madness strikes again! My lovely red plastic bowl didn’t survive the 4 minutes on high! The smoky odor of incinerated popcorn and melted plastic in the kitchen was just a happy little bonus! (Yes, of course I’m kidding!) Why exactly was I the fool? Two reasons, and I’ll bet you’ve already guessed them. One, after several successful batches, I thought I could leave her alone in the kitchen to pop her corn. (Big “duh!” to me.) Two, the plastic bowl — it just couldn’t withstand the heat of the popcorn kernels when they reached the temperature of the sun! Her Daddy said we have 3 choices: 1- give up eating popcorn forever (that one nearly killed Leah!), 2- go back to the chemical-laden microwave popcorn bags (that one nearly killed me!), 3- or, buy a container made for this purpose (Daddy said, “go for it!). Okay, we have all learned that lesson. I made the purchase, and popcorn is again safely popping in the Miller household. All’s well hat ends well. I wish I could include the snapshot I took of Leah looking at the camera through the missing bottom of my beloved big red plastic bowl. I guess I’ll have to start calling it my big plastic picture frame Does anyone know where I can get a replacement? :-/ After 2 scary popcorn malfunctions, it’s really just a coincidence that she happened to be wearing a shirt that has “ENCORE” emblazoned across it!

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