It's Goul-ishous...

Last week I had a life-changing experience. In the form of popcorn. I know... popcorn. But I'm tellin' you... it was THE best homemade popcorn that I have ever tasted, crunched on, indulged in, devoured, etc. Now, I say it was the best homemade popcorn ever because there would be two obvious exceptions if I were to say it was simply the best all-encompassing popcorn ever. 1. Fresh Disneyland kettle corn, available only at Disneyland. Trust me on this one. No matter how many candy stores, gift shops, street vendors, etc. that you run hopefully up to or into at Disneyworld, you will not find fresh kettle corn. It does not live at Disneyworld. That goes for Epcot and Hollywood Studios, too. I'm like a stinkin' kettle corn expert after the last CHA trip. 2. The chocolate covered popcorn that the Boy Scouts start hawking door-to-door this time of year. And yes, they are selling it this year. I know this because I already gave into the Boy-Scout-who-used-to-be-shorter-than-me-but-who-now-should-be-called-Man-Scout because he has grown into a giant in the years that I have been buying overpriced chocolate covered popcorn from him. Therefore, there is already a tin of it on it's sweet little way to me. Anyhow, so back to the best ever homemade popcorn. When I was a kid we used to have homemade popcorn on movie nights. We had this kind of electric skillet looking thingamajigger that had a very large lid. You put the oil and corn in the skillet-y thing, then put the lid on and watched all the magic happen. Then you turned the ingenious thing over and the lid became the bowl. Apparently, you can do the exact same thing in a pot on the stove. Seriously. I know, I know. You probably already know this. But this was like headline news to me. Some friends of ours made it for us and plopped a big ol' bowl in front of me while we were playing a semi-dorky board game called Settlers of Cattan. Let me tell you, this popcorn was so good that I layed a serious Settlers smack-down on everyone else and won in about no time flat. It was that good. So, the recipe goes something like this. 1. Put a large pan on stove and cover the bottom with oil. Add a bit more than that. 2. Throw in a few corn kernel, put the lid on, and turn the heat to high. 3. Wait until the kernels pop, then throw in more corn and put the lid back on. (We use 1/2 cup or a bit less for 2 of us.) Turn the heat to just over medium. 4. Wait for the magic to happen. 5. Shake the pot back and forth a bit while everything's popping to prevent the popcorn at the bottom from burning. 6. Add salt. And, for the love of all popcorn, do NOT use the Great Value brand from Wal-Mart. We literally did a side-by-side comparrison of Great Value and the bulk corn from Sprouts and oh. my. goodness... I cannot express to you the difference. I take no responsibility for your lackluster popped yuckiness if you use the Great Value brand. And what should you do with all those yummy kernels from heaven? Why, papercraft with them, of course. Perhaps whip up a few little ghosties for the kids at school? Um, yeah. This project is super simple. Beyond simple. Embarrassingly easy, really. I started with a few glassine and frosted bags. I used a few scraps of newsprint patterned paper and punched some circles out in various sizes. I trimmed some of the circles into some other random shapes, just for the heck of it, and stuck them all onto the bags.

I loaded the bags up with popcorn and stitched the two larger bag shuts with the sewing machine. I added the stamped goulishous tag to the medium bag because, really, how could I not? I mean, come on... it says goulishous.

And, yeah... that's pretty much it. My kiddos enjoyed ripping the tops of the ghosties off to get to the popcorn. I guess ripping something's head off is a bit ghoulish. I'm still trying to finalize costume plans for this week. The boys were both going to be chefs, complete with white jackets, chef hats, aprons, mustaches drawn on with eyeliner, etc. and litle miss was going to be a lobster hanging out in a lobster pot. However, I'm entertaining the idea of making Zeke a little Nemo costume instead. I know it's a longshot, but any one out there ever attempted a Nemo costume? I want to know all the details! Later, friends!

{Goulishous} Treat Bags Alpha Series J Clear Mini Stamps by Basic Grey Spook Alley Bat Newsprint Pattern Paper by Making Memories Gusseted Glassine Favor Bags (small) Gusseted Glassine Favor Bags (large) Mini Frosted Plastic Gift Favor Bags Black Soot Distress Ink by Ranger