The Ultimate Gourmet Food
April 25th, 2005 at 10:25 am by Dee O'Neil Andrews
Being of humble origins, I find it difficult to get caught up in the current big craze surrounding various expensive gourmet coffees such as Starbucks and Gevalia. Although, I know there's a lot of you out there who are.
I was stupified when I typed in the words "gourmet coffee" at Yahoo and found there were 5,680,000 sites on it to look at. 5 1/2 million!!! I figured it would take me forever and a day to find anything of import there, so typed in Starbucks to take a look at its site. What I found there was astounding, as well.
To start off, it's so complicated that it takes several minutes of pondering to decide exactly which direction you need to go to even find the coffee "page" that describes specific coffees and their prices. You have to start by deciding between "caffeinated" or "decaffeinated." That was easy enough. If I'm going to drink coffee, its going to have caffeine in it, or what's the point. (Although, since my open heart surgery, I'm supposed to be strictly staying away from caffeine, so don't tell my doctors you're reading this.)
Then, you have to narrow your search by "Origin" - Latin America, Africa Arabia, Asia Pacific or Blends; "Bean Preferences" - ground, pod or whole bean; and finally by "Conservation & Certified" - Fair Trade or Organic. After that you can sort alphabetically, if you're so inclined.
I just wanted to know how much they all cost, but they didn't have an ascending or descending price list. I was looking for the bargain basement prices, but found none. Starbucks' coffee ranged from $9.99 (okay - $10) a pound to $15.99 ($16).
Gevalia's coffee was even more expensive. And, we're not even talking here about coffee or espresso or whatever your favorite gourmet hot drink is by the cup. Which is where all the action is (admit it). We know what those can run you. A small fortune if you've got the Starbucks habit.
Well, here in our household, we engage in a different sort of gourmet food, being of sound mind and limited means. Tom doesn't drink coffee at all, anyway, and I found out just the other night on ABC's 20/20 from a blind taste test they conducted using six brands of coffee from very expensive to cheap, including instant coffee, that Sam's Club's brand fared about the best, so that's great by me. Besides, I figure we can indulge in our chosen gourmet food for about a year for what one week's worth of Starbucks cravings for latte will cost you.
No - we happen to be addicted to the ultimate gourmet food there is (which I have previously alluded to). We both love great popcorn.
You already know Tom loves popcorn from growing up in movie theaters. (See "Living at the Movies" from last Monday.) I inherited my "popcorn gene" from my dad and through his lineage, because my mom sure doesn't have it. Unless, of course, it skipped a generation there or something, which is a noteworthy possibility.
When my dad was a kid he worked at the little movie theater in Abernathy, Texas where he became known as "The Popcorn Kid." His mother would make popcorn by the washtub full for he and his two brothers and all their friends, too. And we have a lot of the gourmet stuff in our house. I counted 17 different kinds last week in all colors, flavors, textures and sizes.
We have 12 kinds of "Fireworks Popcorn," including:
1. Autumn Blaze (it's fall multi-colors with "small, crunchy flakes")
2. Orchard Blossom (it's a gorgeous amethyst pink color with a "fluffy and sweet flavor")
3. High Mountain Midnight (deep purple with "robust, wild flavor")
4. Old Hickory (deep brown and "wild and nutty")
5. Starshell Red (red, of course, with "crunchy, rich flavor")
6. Blue Heron (blue with "crunchy, wild flavor")
7. Black Hills (which is deep reddish black)
8. Savannah Gold (one of Tom's favorites, which is "smooth" with a "sweet flavor")
9. Baby White (which is small, sort of rice like kernels)
10. Wisconsin White Birch ("light, crispy texture")
11. Red River Valley (a deeper red than "Starshell Red" with "uncommon smooth flavor") and, finally,
12. Flag Day Popcorn (yes - red,white & blue), which is the "Official Popcorn of Flag Day" with the history of Flag Day given on the back of the bottle.
Fireworks Popcorn sells their varieties in sizes ranging from 8 oz. (1/2 lb.) to 25 lb. bags of each variety for $25, which is a real steal, if you compare it with gourmet coffee. We haven't quite graduated to the 25 lb. bags, yet, but Tom did bring me home a huge plastic commercial sized tub of about 30 lb. of yellow popcorn from Sam's a few years ago (I kid you not!) that took us a while to get through, let me tell you!
So far, we've been buying the case of 12 1 lb. (well, 15 oz.) bottles of the popcorn for $26.60 (you get a break on the $2.49 apiece price). The first time we ordered Fireworks' popcorn off the internet, Tom started with 12 4 lb. bottles for $6.50 apiece because it was such a good deal until he added up the total, plus shipping and handling (on 48 lbs. of popcorn, mind you!!). So, he scaled back to the 15 oz. bottles.
That was bad enough, although at the price of popcorn it's all relative, I suppose. We have three kinds of "Settlers' Popcorn".
1. Settlers' Sedona Red ("A dark, rich and red kernel known for its refined taste and airy textures. It has a dryer taste.")
2. Settlers' Harvest Gold (Creamy, chewy texture and mellow flavor. Sweet flavored corn that is so sweet, it's like you have buttered it.")
3. Settlers' Blue Moon (This variety of blue corn pops up larger than most blues and features a wild, robust flavor, with a creamy texture.")
Settlers' sells for $1.99 for 15 oz. bottles, but someone gave us ours.
In addition to those 15 varieties, we have plain ol' cheap yellow popcorn in a big bag from the grocery store along with a bag of black popcorn from the grocery store full of small kernels popping up small with a crunchy, nutty flavor.
Of course, we haven't even gotten into the interesting history of popcorn or how to perfectly pop your prized varieties of gourmet popcorn, but time and space don't allow here and now, so that will have to wait for another day. Perhaps the next blog entry would be a good place to go into the detailed preparation and perfect presentation of this delightful, yet inexpensive gourmet food.
After all, you know how important preparation and presentation are to gourmet cooks, and the history of the food they're working with. Any popcorn lovers out there (or popcorn haters)? I'm sure you'll chime in when it comes to preparation and presentation.
But, either way, you have to admire the commitment and dedication here among the believers.
Hi Dee! We love popcorn at our house. You have to, if you have six kids and live on a small town pastor’s salary!
I had no idea there were so many gourmet types, though. Yes, please share your method for preparing popcorn. I’d love that! 
If you don’t mind…I’d love to ask what it was about the PDL that depressed you. I’m just curious as to the personal reaction people have to this book.
I thought of you this a.m. when my son was practicing Bible verses that he is in the process of memorizing for going to camp this summer. II Corinthians 4:16-18 says, “Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”
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Dee,
What if Starbucks started selling gourmet popcorn? Their popcorn would probably be slightly charred giving it a deeper, richer taste. Many would have a hard time going back to other popcorns. Besides, other popcorn outlets do not have the ambiance that Starbucks has.
Since Starbucks came to our town, I have had a difficult time enjoying any other coffee. Verona is my favorite. It has a strong, yet smooth taste with a clean finish.
Blessings!
Dee, I’m really, really sorry about your bad news.
Of course I will pray with you for healing, and, of course nothing else is important at a time like this. Focus on getting well, focus on Him!
I like popcorn, myself…although aside from flavorings I’m not too up on the various kinds. You have educated me! But I’ll probably stick with my ACT II 94% fat free kettle korn … weight watchers approved and all.
This is how I order in Starbucks: “Can I get one of those cold coffee drinks…it’s white and it tastes sweet?” Yeah… they try not to give me that look … but it’s almost more than they can take.
By the way … my prayers and heart are with you in your health struggles.
And the cold white coffee drink that tastes sweet is NOT approved by Weight Watchers.
Hi Dee.
Another great read.
Reactions: I decided long ago that a person could become a millionaire if, instead of spending a few dollars a day on fancy coffee, he’d brew some mediocre coffee at home and bank the difference. I’m still not a millionaire, which must mean I would have become dirt poor if it weren’t for such noble frugality. This is the recording that plays in my mind every time I drive past Starbucks.
I’ll have to check out the popcorns you’re talking about here. They sound like fun.
Well . . . it IS amazing! Another strongly-shared characteristic — popcorn addict! I don’t know what to say, really. Now, I do not pretend to any sophistication or gournet taste when it comes to popcorn. Aside from the movie theater variety (yes, buttered, thank you) I mostly rely on Act III Butter Lover’s microwave variety, solely for the convenience. That probably makes a popcorn gourmet want to scream, but it gives me my fix . . . regularly and easily. A guy’s gotta make do.
[…] Okay - enough of the resume for a little while. Been inspired enough yet to "do more" with your life?! I mean, I try. I’ve been working on Tom now for 27 years or so. But he reluctantly admits he’s a much "better man" because of me and in spite of himself because he always resisted. He thought he was perfect as he was. ha~Well, a bunch of blogging people I know are doing year’s end reviews for the best of their posts for the year 2006. So I thought I’d do something similar here today. I’m going to give you the links to five of what I think are my best posts over the nearly two years I’ve been blogging. You know me - always have to be just a bit different. The first two are a pair of humorous ones I did early on in April 2005. One reason I’m giving you the links here is because in keeping up with my stat counter and hits, I’ve had more hits to these two posts from "outside" the blogging world (as in searches on Google and Yahoo) than any other posts I’ve ever written. I find that very interesting consider the topics under discussion of the two. That’s all I’m going to say. You’ll have to check them out and read them to see what I’m talking about. So comment either to them directly or here today so I’ll know what you guys think about them! Okay?!The first in the series of two is titled: The Ultimate Gourmet Food The second, and necessary follow up to the first (you’ll see), is here: Popped Perfection: Preparation and PresentationThe next two posts are also humorous and the two I get the other two top hits on, which has surprised me greatly. You see they are about one of my previous lives in the world’s most hated profession! Here they are: The World’s Most Hated Profession, Part 1The second one is here: The World’s Most Hated Profession, Part 2I’m only giving you one more. A serious one, because in the end, I’m a serious person about life. Just like to have a bit of fun along the way.This one is one I’ve already repeated once, but it’s still one of my all time favorites. Here it is: What Is Our Share Anyway?Hope you enjoy the look back over some of the best of Finding Direction and the top of the top when it comes to the most hits in searches on Google and Yahoo! Oh yeah - and leave me your comments so I’ll know what you think about each of them.Thanks & Cheers! Dee […]