TheBanyanTree: Do you like popcorn?

[Mark Funk]

Do you like popcorn?  Well it's been a "friend of mine" for many, many years.  And a wintry, snowy night, such as this one promises to be, seems a fitting occasion to break out the old popper. As a child, having popcorn was something of a family event.  In those days we would pop corn "dry" in a large cast iron Dutch oven.  We popped two or three pans full, enough to fill my mother's large stainless steel mixing bowl.  Shaking the Dutch oven constantly to prevent burning. While the corn popped we also melted butter for toping and got out the salt and enough bowls for the family less one, as one of us would get the butter pan for his or her serving container.  This often resulted in a fight when the popcorn was served, as it seemed everyone wanted that extra bit of butter one would get from using that pan.  And yes, I know this wasn't/isn't nutritionally sound - too much sodium and cholesterol when you add the butter and salt.  But we sure didn't want to eat it dry, without those additions.  We added them without a thought as we didn't know, and probably didn't want to hear what would be better. We would all curl up in our favorite chair, couch, or spot on the floor, with our popcorn in hand, ready to watch Bonanza, Disney, or whatever other program was on that particular night. What do you think?  Popcorn anyone?  Will that be with or without?