Sunday, April 1, 2012

Family Movie Night and Homemade Movie Theater Popcorn!

A couple weeks ago we sold our TV. It was a hard decision, but in the end we felt like we had to. It was a gift from my aunt, and it was a NICE machine. Watching Farscape, Battlestar Gallactica, Star Trek, Stargate: SG1, and Firefly on a huge, 53" widescreen, wall-mounted plasma TV was really an experience. But it took up an entire wall in our living room, and when we realized that the house we are moving to is the same size as our apartment, we knew that it was time to say goodbye. It took up way more real estate in our home than our personal values of frugality and thoughtful living could stand. 

Since it has been gone, I have enjoyed the peace and productivity that has invaded our home. Jack no longer begs me to watch television all day long. He plays games, colors, "reads", asks to be read to, and we have started to get more mileage out of our craft supplies. When I need him to be occupied and not underfoot (like for our Sunday naptime) I set him up with magnets, lacing beads, homemade play-dough, paints or collage supplies. We have been to the library more and I have read aloud a lot more.

Chocolate Chip Brownies are also great.

Not having a TV is great. 

Not having a television makes it more special when we do watch something. Last Friday Husband enjoyed working a rare early shift, which meant he was home for movie night. He borrowed Snuf de Hond from his parents, and after supper we sat and enjoyed homemade brownies and the best homemade movie theater popcorn. The movie was cute but nothing particularly great. It was enjoyable to see a little of Holland (where Husband was born and spent some of the most formative years of his life). I have heard about how special the Snuf books were to him when he was a little boy, so watching the film was a treat for us all. 

But the best part, aside from the fun of sitting on the sofa together, was sharing a big hot buttery bowl of popcorn. It really had that fakey microwave / movie theater buttery-er than butter taste. And I had no guilt or misgivings about the ingredients either. Want to know my secret? Cultured, raw butter. I popped the corn in coconut oil in my large stock pot, then drizzled it generously with homemade, raw, cultured butter. To make my butter I followed this tutorial from GNOWFGLINS , then I melted it by heating a glass bowl (Pyrex, what else!?) in the oven while I was baking the brownies. I then put the room-temperature butter into the hot bowl and stirred it to melt. I know that sounds like a lot of steps, but I was trying to preserve as many of the enzymes and good bacteria as I could while still melting my raw butter.

I made a huge batch for snacks this week, but we ate it all. It was that good.

It was completely worth the extra steps to know that we were having a delicious snack, and as a nice bonus, I hope that melting it didn't kill the probiotics in the butter. And wow. Best popcorn flavor in the whole world. Mmmm butter!

This post is shared with Monday Mania  

No comments:

Post a Comment

Make my day! Please, leave a comment!