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After Thanksgiving (and the unwelcome hangover), I braced myself for those crazy, stressful weeks before Christmas. There are always about 437 events to get to and this year was no different. But, in the middle of all that, Andrew (and I) were dealing with an educational (but rather time-consuming) school project. In early October, the teacher had started a unit on Economics. The class made up their own country (Dragon Galaxy) and came up with their own currency (Dragon Gold.) They earned money by following classroom rules and completing their homework on time. One poor kid was given the job of Treasurer and each night he had to go home and separate the money each student had earned that day. Guess who decided to volunteer for the job of Treasurer? That's right... ANDREW. At first he was very proud of his new position, but as the weeks passed guess who became the REAL treasurer of Dragon Galaxy? That's right---ME. The kids normally leave for school at 8am, so each day around 7:55 you'd hear me say, "Oh crap! Andrew! We forgot to do the treasury stuff!" That became our routine for much of November.
The culminating events of Dragon Galaxy were three business sessions at which the kids had to sell something (cheap) to their classmates. The kids could use their earned Dragon Gold to buy eachothers' wares. Some kids made beaded necklaces or Christmas ornaments. One kid made Candy Sushi. I was grateful when Andrew decided to sell popcorn. Seemed pretty easy, right? For three Wednesdays in December Andrew had to bring in 15 or so baggies of popcorn to sell to his friends. Well, apparently these kids have only eaten microwave popcorn, so when they tried Andrew's authentic, homemade, carcinogen-free, air popped popcorn-- they were hooked. The first week Andrew sold out of his popcorn before the end of the business session. The next week, we made 18 bags, he raised the price, and sold out in 15 minutes. By the last week it was clear that popcorn was the hot ticket in town.
We made 34 bags of popcorn and Andrew raised the price again. He had a line of kids within 30 seconds of the session starting, and sold out in 10 minutes. One mom even told me that her daughter was so upset that she didn't get to the popcorn fast enough last time, so this week she abandoned her own table just to get in line. Here's a little video of the businessman in action. The annoyingly loud countdown and whistle-blowing at the beginning is how they start off each business session. You may want to hit your mute button for that. (don't say I didn't warn you.)
Now, I'm sure you're all wondering, what's the big deal with this popcorn? The last few weeks I've had many requests for my recipe, and now you, my lucky readers, will find out how it's done.
First you start off with this throwback from the eighties.
The broken handle makes it extra flavorful (and adds that bit of adrenaline rush as you're trying to flip the whole thing over without burning your hand off.) You break the handle by dropping the antique popcorn maker on the kitchen floor.
Next you add a little popcorn oil and popcorn. I use the following:
Finally, the top secret ingredient. Unfortunately, I can't find this on Okinawa, so hopefully this will last until we visit next summer, or I'm going to start begging you guys to send me some.
Some of you are too young to remember the days of pre-microwave popcorn, but for children of the 80s this was very high tech in popcorn making circles. What you do is pour the oil onto the machine, then about 1/2 a cup of kernels, and finally, a generous amount of the top secret butter seasoning. This is the key to making it taste all salty and yummy throughout--put on the seasoning before the popping. Bill and my Mom will be very surprised to hear that I don't even measure the seasoning--I just sprinkle it all on there until it just looks right. (This is very uncharacteristic of me--Queen of Specific Recipes) Put the lid on (which can also double as a bowl...fancy, huh!) Plug it in and, waaalaaa....in about five minutes you have a bowlful of popcorn. And you also have about five minutes of Peace On Earth because the kids find it fascinating to watch the popcorn pop. Random neighbor children even run in off the street whenever they smell that buttery aroma emanating from our house. (just kidding--we know that kid.)
So by this point I'm sure you guys are sick of me talking about popcorn and are thinking I need to get out a little more often. Luckily, we had other things to keep us busy. Our next big December event was Emma's School Christmas program. Actually, only 3rd graders were participating in the Christmas Program. Emma was the only 4th grader to take part in the show because she was selected by the music teacher to be the Student Director. Don't worry, our
You might be wondering how our Department of Defense, public school got away with having a Christmas program. Well, actually it was a Holiday program and the clever teacher had the kids sing songs about different holidays around the world. Believe it or not, there were even a few songs about Jesus in the show. Naturally, I'm going to include a little snippet of the program. (Watch the first 10 seconds, and the rest of the video is pretty much the same thing.) I chose this song because it brought back childhood memories of the Christmas programs my mother
Finally, a couple of weeks ago Bill received some BIG NEWS at work. The last few months we have been (not so) patiently waiting to find out the results of the next promotion selection board. He's helped me out in remembering all the details of the big event. I think it was a Thursday when he received a phone call around 1630 (4:30pm) from the General's office asking (telling) him to come by when he had a chance (now) because the General would like to speak with him. In military circles, this is akin to being called to the Principal's office, and sparks the same feeling of impending doom. He figured either his unit had done something really bad and he was about to get chewed out for it, or that he'd been passed for promotion and the General wanted to let him down gently before the rest of the population found out. So he goes over to the Generals' building. Bill said there was some initial small talk and that he made some kind of sarcastic remark that he wasn't sure the General appreciated. The General did not give the impression that he was about to share good news, and even grew rather stern in his conversation. Bill prepared for the worst. Finally he tells Bill (who had just been ordered to stand at attention), "I want you to say to yourself,... Self, let this sink in." Bill remained quiet as he was standing at attention in front of a general officer. "Go on, say it," the General says. Bill repeats the sentence. Then the General says, "That I've just been selected as # XXX on this year's promotion selection list." To steal a quote from Mary, Bill didn't see that coming! As the realization of his promotion sunk in, the roller coaster of emotions almost brought him to tears. However, our tough Marine managed to maintain his composure -- the last thing he wanted to do was start crying in front of the GENERAL! They shook hands, exchanged a few more words, and then Bill went back to work for a few more hours.
Now, don't get too excited that now that he'll be making the big bucks (not really) you guys should expect some pretty swanky Christmas presents from us. He probably won't be promoted until the spring or summer of 2013! This announcement was just to let him know that he (and about 350 other Majors) had been selected for promotion. The Marine Corps, and all the services for that matter, can be painfully slow when it comes to actually promoting people, but hopefully in a (not so) short 18 months he'll be wearing that silver leaf on his collar.
That's pretty much all that's been going on around here. Since you probably won't hear from me again until Valentine's Day, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a great New Year. We miss you all!
