I have
always liked popcorn. Last Saturday night I sat down and watched an old movie
that just screamed out to me, "Make some popcorn!". Popcorn I knew, would complete the experience
of a grainy old movie on a Saturday evening. Despite the fact that the older I
get the less it agrees with me, that it gets stuck in the ever widening gaps
between my teeth, and wreaks havoc to my bowels, I wanted some popcorn. I could have gone into the kitchen and thrown
one of those bags of overly salted, trans fat laden popcorn into the
microwave, but I didn't. Stuffed back in a drawer I found a jar of
unadulterated, un-popped, popcorn. The old fashioned kind. When we were kids my
mom used to let us make our own popcorn on the stove. We would melt enough Crisco
in a heavy, beat up old pan, to cover the bottom, pour in the kernels of corn
on top of that, and turn up the flame full blast. In a few minutes the popping
would start. You would have to keep shaking the pan so that the popped kernels
wouldn't burn, and hold on to the cover so that it wouldn't fall off when the
fluffy stuff started pushing it up. The aroma would fill the house letting
everyone know it was popcorn time. Believe it or not, it still works. I put
some oil in one of Mark's expensive gourmet pans, added the corn kernels, and
in a few minutes we had fresh popcorn, low in salt, without any trans fats.
Looking down
into that pan, seeing those corn kernels laying in there, brought back another
childhood memory. On a warm summer afternoon, in a large tent, in the middle of
the town festival, in a park not far from our house, sat my mom playing bingo. Spread out in front of my mom were her bingo
cards, and a pile of corn kernels that were used to mark the numbers. Watching
all this was my sister Peggy and me. To this day I still don't understand what made her do it, but Peggy reached up to the table, grabbed a corn kernel,
and stuck it in her ear. About an hour later, in Doctor Cantwell's office, the
offending kernel was extracted from Peggy's ear. I'm sure she will correct me
of any erroneous facts that I may have related, but I'm pretty sure it happened
just that way. After all, I am known for my unimpeachable memory.
That's such a wonderful, nostalgic post, Alan. We popped pop corn like that, too. You brought back such memories for me. I think I have an old bag of un-popped corn as well and maybe one of these cold winter evenings I'll use it up.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll be checking back later to see what Peggy has to say.
Popcorn and red wine dinner for me tonight...after I find out what Peggy says.
ReplyDeleteOh Hostess, everyone knows Chardonnay goes with popcorn.
ReplyDeleteOkay Kim and hostess, here goes!! #1) I do NOT ever remember our Mom playing bingo anywhere or anytime.
ReplyDelete#2) The corn kernel incident happened in our living room on Ravinia Dr. and I believe I was about 3yrs old.
Our parents would have friends over on a Saturday night and popcorn would be one of the snacks served. I do remember that they always left everything when they went to bed, empty glasses (hopefully), full ashtrays, and an empty popcorn bowl except for a few pieces of popcorn and lots of unpopped kernals. There is no rhyme or reason that small kids take small items and stick them in an orifice but I chose a kernal. When my mother asked me "WHY??" I believe the only reason I came up with at the time was "to scratch my ear." So on s Sunday morning, Dr Cantwell (his real and so perfect name!) met us at his office. He tried for a very long time to extract that kernal and I think I might have been uncooperative. Next thing I remember is the smell of ether and I was out! (Just using the word brings that odor back to me!) My next memory was waking up in our big old sedan being driven home.
So understand that little Alan was running around in his droopy diapers at about age 2 so his rendition would come from someone else's faulty memory!!
Okay, from the mother's mouth. First of all, I like the idea of it being from a nearly empty popcorn bowl. Fits right in with my story. I also remember when Mom and Dad would have friends over, and I also liked to finish off the things they left around from the night before. My favorite wasn't the popcorn bits in the bowl but the beer left in the glasses. Warm, flat, beer, I liked it. Now, as for the bingo thing. I called Mom and she confirms that she played bingo at times, and that they used corn kernels to mark the numbers. Probably where I got confused was that little Alan was hoping his older sister would stick another kernel in her ear since the first time resulted in so much excitement.
ReplyDeleteI loved the aftermath of those parties! There were also the little pastel mints that looked like pillows... Anyway I can hardly believe Peg was uncooperative ;) I just want to know where you got the imagery of mom at a festival in a park...
ReplyDeleteAnd they liked to play Bunco and Gin Rummy at those parties.
ReplyDeletePatti, the bingo in a tent at the Fall Festival or maybe the 4H Fair actually did happen. It was in the park next to Bert Fulton School. I verified with Mom that she did play bingo. Peggy verified that she did stick a corn kernel in her ear. Mix that all up in my mind and you have my story. Please, re-read the disclaimer on the right everybody.
ReplyDelete