Popcorn And Candy Night

Popcorn and Candy night

My cousins house in Kentucky was a magical place. My Uncle Bud had built it himself, and the house was a huge jumble of rooms that by today’s standards had no “Open Floor Plan.” Bathrooms were scattered in odd places, and the gargantuan boys room upstairs was basically an attic that had been dry walled. There was a door in the room that when you opened it, you saw nothing but ground one story below. My uncle never built a deck for the attic room. I will never know why. Many wonderful childhood memories were made in that house.

One of the best memories of my cousins house was Popcorn and Candy night.

Every Saturday when we visited, my Aunt Phyl would make an enormous pot of oatmeal fudge drop cookies, and serve up endless bowls of popcorn; made the old fashioned way. I can still remember the aroma of the cocoa cooking, and the anticipation of biting into those warm chocolaty treats. Combined with the oily saltiness of the popcorn, it was a symphony for the taste buds! We would all watch Kung Fu and Johnny Carson in the cavernous family room, and eat ourselves numb. Sometimes I would fall asleep before the end of Carson, and sometimes I would laugh till I choked at my cousin Roger’s antics.

Around my twelfth year, that amazing house burned to the ground. Unfortunately, my aunt Phyl’s iron kettle, used to make both the popcorn and candy, went with the house. The tradition lives on, however. Two years ago, I visited Aunt Phyl with my children. Even though she and my Uncle Bud are on special diets, she made popcorn and candy for me and my kids, my cousins and their collective brood. It was like old times; except Johnny Carson and Kung Fu were replaced by a Disney DVD on a wide screen television, the candy was made in a non-stick skillet and the popcorn was microwaved!