National Popcorn Day?

Supposedly the 18th was National Popcorn Day.  I don't know if that's true or not.  And I really don't care.  I just needed an excuse to write about popcorn.

I was considering a Black Swan tie-in.  I just saw it in the theaters and loved it, although I'm not entirely clear on what happened.  I just know I was on the edge of my seat the whole time; Natalie Portman did an amazing job; and the symbolism was fab.  Very cool.  I didn't actually eat any popcorn at the movie (I smuggled in Christmas candy), but I THOUGHT about popcorn.

And there you have it.  Popcorn.

I met the folks from Jody's Gourmet Popcorn at the Fancy Food Show and they were awesome enough to send me some samples afterward.

They sent three different types of their popcorn (they have other flavors as well).  This one was double cheddar:

Now I love cheese flavored popcorn.  When I buy those tins with the three flavors, this is the flavor that I always chow down first.  But I'm sad to say, this cheese popcorn was no good.  It had a weird flavor and I actually pitched it.  For me throwing away cheese popcorn is like Lindsey Lohan thowing out vodka.

Next up was Kettle Corn:

This was perfect.  I mean perfect.  Not overly sweet, just the right balance between sweet and salty.  Awesome!!

And look at those kernels - all their popcorn is like this - fully popped, nice and fluffy - no bits.  Some popcorn is filled with unpopped bits and hard pieces and is just crappy.  The last time I got popcorn from the Popcorn Factory it was like that - bleech.  This was great.

This is Jody's Recipe 53 Caramel Corn:

Also very cool - a nice light coating of caramel corn - very, very well done.  You can still taste the popcorn - it's not overwhelmed by the caramel.  A work of popcorn culinary art.

This is Great Scott's Peanut Butter Cup popcorn (I was sooooo excited to try this one!):

Boo!  No good.  Not very peanut buttery or chocolately; a weird flavor. There are so many better choices that I pitched this one too.  You know it's no good if I threw away something involving peanut butter.  That goes against everything I believe in.

Before we write Great Scott's off entirely, look at this flavor - bleu cheese (notice how not full the bag is):

I love the fact that the bleu cheese actually has a bit of a bleu tint to it!  Gotta tell you - this stuff was delicious!!  Love it!  As you can see, I ate half the bag before I could even get to a camera to take a picture of it:

Everybody is getting in on the popcorn act.  Harry & David just lauched a line of flavored popcorns.  Here's loaded baked potato:

and bacon ranch:

I'm sure you are wondering why I don't have pictures of these flavors.  Well, I now have like 5 open bags of popcorn in my house.  I have to eat some before I open any more!  I did sample both of these flavors in the Harry & David store and they were delish.  There's no room for crappy entries once Harry & David is in the house.  Popcorn makers of the world - step it up!

Harry & David also has their entire line of Moose Munches  (coated popcorn with chocolate and assorted nuts or other ingredients).  This stuff is over the top addictive.  I saw this flavor (Milk Chocolate Pumpkin) and was dying to try it:

As Tim (my sweetheart) observed, "Pumpkin has it's place and this isn't it."  I have to agree.  As much as I love pumpkin, somethings just don't lend themselves as well to that flavor.  Popcorn really shouldn't be pumpkin flavored.  This wasn't very good.  I was going to throw the bag away, but Tim said, "Don't get crazy, it's not that bad!"

So far, this is the best flavor of Moose Munch that I've tried - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut:

This is sooooooo good and is completely addictive.  If you open a bag, the next thing you know it will be empty and your jeans will be tight.  It's wicked good.

Harry & David also has a line of Moose Munch chocolate bars.  This one is caramel with cashews and almonds:

It looks pretty good and in theory is a good idea.  But I honestly think loose Moose Munch is better.  This is too much chocolate.  I know, I know - how can you have too much chocolate?  If you eat the Moose Munch with only a few chocolate covered kernels, it's perfect.  If you have all of it coated in chocolate, it's too much.

The takeaways?

Let's all be grateful for the awesomeness of popcorn.  It can be healthy as heck or decadent beyond belief.  It makes movies better and smells delicious. 

Contrary to what I have long believed, pumpkin really doesn't make everything better.  Neither does chocolate.  I'm soooo happy they are both out there, but they don't need to be everywhere.

Really great things usually do get the recognition they deserve - Black Swan, Cirque du Soleil, popcorn.  We all have different tastes and opinions, but we agree more than we disagree.  If given the chance, Orville Redenbacher could probably have gotten us world peace.

 

Pavlov's Coupons

I'm happy to announce that my brother took his boys out Trick or Treating - dressed as a very cool Darth Vader and Boba Fett, I might add. And there were loads of Trick or Treaters where they lived. Yahoo!! The tradition lives!! At least for those on the dark side. : )

And my good friend Mike was visiting friends at the beach - and they had tons of Trick or Treaters. In fact - they almost ran out of candy. But they managed to save three white chocolate Reese's cups for themselves, so all was not lost. Happy Belated birthday, Mike! He was 30 minutes shy of being born on Halloween.

I'm feeling better about the future already.

I have come to realize in recent weeks that I am a sucker for coupons, especially those fabulous e-mail offers from companies like Bath and Body Works and Harry and David. In fact, I'm like Pavlov's Dogs. Remember them? The experimenter would ring a bell and then feed them. Pretty soon all the experimenter had to do was ring the bell and the dogs would salivate - food didn't even have to be present. Well, all these retailers have to do is send me a coupon and I immediately go to their website and buy things. I don't even have to need anything. Bow wow!

And they are smart - once you spend money and use a coupon, they send you more coupons! I'm salivating just thinking about it!

Well, this week I got a coupon for 25% off your entire purchase at Harry & David - sweet!!! That was a no brainer - I totally scored some great stuff to blog about! Wheee!! (This is a brilliant marketing strategy, by the way. Marketing directly to the people who are most likely to buy from you. Give them an offer they can't refuse - and voila - instant sales.)

So let's see what I got!

Harry and David has some pretty darn good chocolate. The truffles are smooth and creamy and the flavor good - not too subtle, not too overpowering.

Fruit flavors are seldom my favorites, but these are good. As you can see, these aren't those cheesy cream filled things like you get from my enemy, Russ Stover. This is delicious chocolate ganache. I liked cherry and raspberry better than orange, but it's all a matter of personal preference.

Now these truffles look like they have nuts on them, but look at the real picture below:

These are Moose Munch truffles. Moose Munch is their collection of popcorn blended with a variety of flavors. So crazy me thought there might be something more to these - like a crunch. They were described as "starting with a thick layer of decadent milk chocolate". "Inside, we've blended real nuts with even more creamy chocolate, then added toffee's crackle." Hmmmm.......the nuts are so blended that you can't detect them. And you can see the toffee. Not much crackle going on.

The flavor doesn't seem nutty - more like a like coffee flavor. Not bad, just not at all what I expected. These are not my favorite. Too wishy-washy. What makes the Moose Munch line is the crunchy popcorn and the mix of flavors and textures. These ain't got it going on.

Is this not the perfect collection? I LOVE all these flavors, so I'm pretty excited about this one! At the top is hazelnut - and you can see the nut there - no messing around! This one is delicious. BUT there are better hazelnut offerings out there - Perugina Kisses leap to mind.

The almond is smooth and creamy, but I think it should have a nut too. I actually prefer chocolate covered almonds to almond flavored truffles. Who knew? But I know now.

Peanut Butter is my favorite - no surprise there, huh? But are these better than Reese's Peanut Butter cups? I have to say no. I know, crazy right? The cost like a million times more. They just don't really kick. The peanut butter isn't particularly smooth and creamy or really peanut buttery tasting. Trader Joe's Peanut Butter cups are way better too.

So I just want to let you all know that Halloween is alive and well. And so is scientific theory.