Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

[Note: I'm sorry I've been out of pocket and haven't posted something new the past couple of days.  I've been feeling really bad with a couple of different things, including my blood pressure being precipitously low, despite the new medication.  About an hour ago (11:40 a.m.) it was so low standing up that my blood pressure machine couldn't read it.  Sitting down it was a horrible 67/50, at which time I cannot get around or function except either sitting down or lying down. 

Needless to say, I haven't done much at all around the house.  Tom has had to fend for himself and help take care of me, which he has been very good about.  He is here right now for lunch (he fixed it himself) and helped me get in here to our office so I could drink some coffee and write here to you.

  I see from my site meter that my readership is way down and it's no wonder!  I've not been here!  But, y'all have been great with your favorite food question!  It's been really interesting and has made my mouth water.  I could have named a whole lot of the different things that y'all have as far as my favorite food, I'm telling ya.

In fact, several of you have asked what my favorite food is.  Well . . . while I love several of the things that y'all have listed, I've always said (part for real and part in jest) that my favorite food of all time is popcorn!  I know - that's pretty weak up against one of Tom's 2" filets (from Sam's Club butcher shop) hickory grilled out on our deck or a fried seafood platter from  Li'l Ray's over in Long Beach, Mississippi on the coast. 

I may elaborate on some of my favorite foods later, but today and next time I want to offer you a humorous look at what I call "The Ultimate Gourmet Food."  (The link is the original post with comments, if you'd like to read them.)  Both articles are posts I wrote for Finding Direction three years ago this month and for which I've received more hits than any other except for people looking for wind vane information.

I hope you'll take the time to read them and to comment to let me know what you think of my thinking on the subject.  You'll be able to tell from what I write that I know a lot about it and what I'm talking about, for sure!

Here goes!  Cheers & Blessings to each of you today!  Dee

THE ULTIMATE GOURMET FOOD

 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 April 2005.) 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.