Popcorn Perfection

During my Weight Watchers days, popcorn was indispensable. A can of club soda and a bowl of hot, unbuttered popcorn got me through many nights of craving chocolate and chips and chocolate chips. My dentist isn't happy about it, but I still enjoy the odd bowl of popcorn with a sprinkling of that powdery stuff that approximates butter.

When you're eating popcorn every day, you start to dream about a better way to pop it. In the beginning, I used my old Dutch oven, with a glug of oil in the bottom. Problem: cleanup. By the time I was done, I had an oil-splattered pot, lid, counter and stove. It took some of the joy out of eating popcorn.

My next step was to buy a Whirly Pop on one of our trips to the US. It was heavily discounted and seemed quite exotic since you couldn't buy them in Canada back then. I bought two. (Imagine me fitting them in my carry-on luggage and explaining to the nice customs officer what they were.) If you've ever twirled a Whirly Pop handle, you know how much fun it is, but it didn't really solve the oil splatter problem.
Hmm. 

Well, what about pre-packaged microwave popcorn? Easy prep. Easy cleanup. My microwave even has a "popcorn" setting. Seemed like a match made in heaven. Until I read the label. If I can't pronounce it, I'm not eating it.
Dang.
Laura suggested I try her way which involved a teflon pan. I don't have a teflon pan. 
Next.
 

See - it says "really works".

Then one day I was wandering aimlessly around one of those discount housewares stores (the store is in Coquitlam so carry-on wasn't a problem), when a stack of Microwave Popcorn Poppers that "really works" caught my eye. Also, they were not made in China - which is one of my quirky criteria for buying "stuff". Ask my family, Christmas shopping for me is problematic.
Anyways. Sold.

Weirdly, on one of her visits home, Laura had pre-packaged dozens of 1/3 cup measures of popcorn and tied them with a ribbon. I can't remember why.
When I got home, I broke out the new popcorn popper and a can of club soda. (Good times.)

I added 1/3 cup of (premeasured) popcorn to the bowl.

 

Covered it and stuck it in the microwave.

Pressed the popcorn setting on the microwave.

And listened. Ahhh. The sound of popping was music to my ears. That was the night I found perfection in a popcorn popper. 

It's a simple thing, but a good thing, to paraphrase Martha. The bonus is that it's a pretty nice bowl, so it doubles as the serving bowl!

Justin makes popcorn in it all the time. He adds a little butter to his popcorn, but his way or mine, the popcorn is sublime.