Kettle Corn Revisited

Well today was fun and productive! Well, perhaps the morning wasn't, but the afternoon sure was! Matt and I went out to do errands at around 1 this afternoon and hoped to be home before 3 - but we sure weren't :)
First off we went to go pick up some clothes that I was trying to buy off of kijiji and we had tried to pick up on Friday but the store the lady's husband worked at (she was sending the clothes into town with him) was closed. So I just assumed she told me I could pick it up that day and forgot it was a holiday. No sweat. But today when we got there the store was open, the guy was there and there were no clothes. Apparently his wife had told him nothing about them! Great eh? So that's two trips downtown for no good reason... I give up.
Well, we went on to Value Village in search of more teacups for party favors for my mom's tea party (teacup candles) and a silver tray for my centerpiece. I found a tray (not really silver - it was silver plated copper) that was gorgeous and not stupidly expensive and I even managed to find teacups for less that $5 apiece. And they matched the ones I already had for the favors fairly well. Then we went on to Michaels so that I could look for moss. Well, they had some. It was dried and in a bag, and had a bug. Seriously. There was a little dried out larvae stuck in this bag. It climbed in with the moss apparently. I was a little grossed out. And a little appalled at the fact that I would've needed three bags worth of moss and each bag was $10. So I've decided that I shall find moss elsewhere.
We eventually went to Walmart where we spent alot. We got the usual: soap, toothpaste, vitamins, etc. and then we remembered that we needed a whole bunch of other things like a new razor head for Matt's electric razor, and shoes, and dog food. Speaking of dog food, I've heard that a good rule of thumb when picking out dog foods was to only buy stuff that had at least 2 meat ingredients in the first 3 ingredients listed. Well, we've been giving Cash Actrium Puppy Food since we got him and that fit the nutritional bill fine. But this time when we went they only had a Actrium Holistic. The first three ingredients were corn, rice and wheat. Great eh? That's a whole lotta filler. So we went down the whole dog food aisle checking every bag. The only one in the store that had at least two meats in the first three ingredients was Pedigree's Chicken and Rice. And they actually had three for three. Their puppy food didn't even have one meat listed in the first three. Actually, puppy foods are usually crammed full of fillers like corn to help make bigger puppy poops - which makes it look like your dog is growing and eating well. Anyway.
We got home and then went out right away for dinner at Matt's parents' place. We spent the evening with them and then came home and tried to get Gabe to sleep. Then I made some kettle corn! And it was a success! Well, almost...
You see, I made two mistakes. The very first thing I did and the very last thing I did were both wrong. The first was that I used canola oil. And I could taste it. Very clearly. I've seen recipes using olive oil but find it odd that I wouldn't taste that more than the canola. Peanut oil is used alot for frying foods and would hold up to the heat well so maybe I'll try that too at some point. The second mistake I made was a stupid one - I over salted. I have a little salt grinder filled with sea salt that I was planning on using but for some reason, when the time came, I grabbed our table salt from the cupboard and turned the little lid to the sprinkle section and hoped it would ration it appropriately. Man was I wrong. Now, it wasn't sickeningly salty by any means. It just wasn't the happy little je ne sais quoi that I find salt normally is in kettle corn. I think the harsh, almost chemically taste of the table salt had a negative effect too so next time I will most definately be using sea salt or kosher salt.
But besides the negative effects of the oil and the salt, the popcorn was light and fluffy - just the way kettle corn should be. And I held off putting in the sugar long enough that it didn't have a chance to caramalize.
Well, the popcorn is all eaten now and it's too late to go make more so I may as well go to sleep I suppose.
Nighty night.

Mrs. Vander Leek ;)