Plus listening to it pop is really fun

Oh, dear little blog, I have neglected you! These crazy snow storms have made me feel a little bit like the world is on hold, and I just realized I haven't posted yet this month. Next month is March which means it's almost spring! My heart is fluttering at the thought. This winter has been intense. My boots have seen more use this Virginia winter than any other winter in Utah, which is not what I expected. But at least we Virginians can now declare ourselves number 1-- this winter has officially broken the snowfall record of any other winter on record for the DC Metro area. Way to go, DC! If we're going to have to endure all this snow, at least we have some bragging rights to make it all worth it. We also lost power for 12 hours, but, lucky for us, it was only during the day. Also lucky for us, Hannah and Rob have a gas stove (and live on our street). They fed us delicious crepes full of prosciutto, cheese, tomato, onion, asparagus, nutella, lemon, sugar . . . they were divine. They also provided endless entertainment for Bria, which we greatly appreciated. Bria was in heaven with their bounteous supply of blankets, which she used to create a bed for her baby. Bria loves nothing more than to put her toys to nigh-night.

I have to admit that one side effect of being snowed in for six days is a voracious appetite. I've been baking and cooking and snacking almost nonstop. But, hey! Snow days are rare, and it's important to live it up, right? We've eaten our weight in cookies, chowder, more crepes, more cookies, milkshakes, and popcorn. Oh, the popcorn. We've been eating this popcorn a lot lately, but truth be told, we started eating a lot of it long before the storms came.

I grew up on hot air popped corn, which, ya know, is fine. And I have eaten my share (and probably several other people's share) of microwave popcorn. But this is the first time I have made stove-popped corn.

Holy deliciousness. It's so buttery and flavorful. The flavor is complex and rich. (And I highly recommend popping your corn with peanut oil. I used canola oil the first few times, and the taste was very distinctively odd.) The honeyed popcorn (in that friendly little link above) is the perfect balance of sweet and salty. It's a very nice sweet treat (that happens to be slightly addictive, but whatever). We've also found that popcorn dressed with plain old melted butter and a hefty sprinkle of kosher salt is delicious. And now matter how we adorn the popcorn, Bria is just as obsessed as we are.