Homemade Kettle Corn

I hope everyone had a fabulous Valentine's Day...

I did :)

In fact, I am inclined to label it as the best Valentine's Day I ever had.

It was already a long day. After a draining day of interning and having class, I dragged my feet up to my door barely able to keep my eyes open and calling on the last of my strength just to hold up the bag on my shoulder for the minute walk to my door.

When I opened the door I was instantly revived by shock and surprise. The table was set with flowers, candles, tablecloth and heart confetti. I gasped when I took it all in and then noticed the balloon and that my plate was filled with chocolate.

I wasn't expecting anything like this whatsoever.

We were just planning to make a nice dinner together...which we did...and it was perfect.

After dinner we exchanged gifts (which is something we don't tend to do for Valentine's Day...but thought "what the hell...why not?" this year.)

I got us both a couples massage (cant.fricken.wait) and he pulled a box with a red bow out of thin air and handed it over to me with the cheesiest of cheesy grins.

I think this is where I smacked him because I thought the thoughtful dinner setup and candy was my gift.

Upon opening the little box he was met yet again with one my gasp/squeel/shriek reactions. It was an opal necklace.

Opal is my favorite of all favorites. Not only because it is my birthstone but it is simply beautiful and has sentimental value in my family.

Yeah, I'm pretty darn lucky.

Does anybody else nearly faint at the smell of fresh kettle corn when you go to a carnival or fair?

I do. I have been kicking myself for not getting one of those 4 foot tall bags of the sweet and saltiness that comes straight out of a huge black kettle. I'm fairly certain that the only reason I refrained was because I was fighting with trying to keep down the strawberry donuts, texas tenderloin sandwich, soggy fries drenched in vinegar and salt, and strawberry shortcake.

This is just speculation because I cannot possibly come up with another excuse.

Well guess what? You can make something similar...that tastes almost like fresh kettle corn from the fair...at least enough to hold you over until the next time you decide to make a sport out of getting fat off of fried...well...everything.

Fried kool-aid? That is just silly.

Homemade Kettle Corn
From Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels

Directions:

Heat the vegetable oil in a large pot over medium heat. Once hot, stir in the sugar and popcorn. Cover, and shake the pot constantly to keep the sugar from burning. Once the popping has slowed to once every 2 to 3 seconds, remove the pot from the heat and continue to shake for a few minutes until the popping has stopped. Pour into a large bowl, and allow to cool, stirring occasionally to break up large clumps.