My daughter had her palate extender (an orthodontic device that resides in one’s mouth) removed this week; in celebration, we bought and made popcorn. One isn’t allowed to have popcorn (or chewy, goopy food) with a palate extender (or with braces), so it was exciting to once again be sharing popcorn. The popcorn my daughter picked out came in a bag, and I kept eating it. In order not to eat all of *her* popcorn, I made my own.
Ingredients
3/4 cup plain kernels of popcorn
1 paper bag, lunch bag size
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. turmeric, garlic powder, cumin, and pepper
3 tsp. organic butter
1 bunch steamed broccoli
Put the popcorn kernels in the bag and fold it closed. Put it in the microwave – ours has a popcorn setting. When it is done popping, remove the bag. Prepare the butter with the spices and salt by melting it in a saucepan or in a bowl in the microwave. Pour it over the popcorn.
So why the steamed broccoli? After you finish all the popcorn, you are going to enjoy mopping up the spicy butter remnants with a piece of broccoli!
I love photographing rudbeckia (black-eyed susans); they are like sculptures in the winter snow. To achieve the see-through border, I added a 9px stroke to the Photoshop layer that had the sepia effect. Since the layer had an opacity lower than 100%, the border is also transparent. The default stroke effect is a bright red color; using the eye-dropper tool, I selected a color from within the photograph for the border.
This is a lovely blue jay I photographed about one week before the storm. And this is the post I wrote last week about a calf, a swallow and the winds, but I never hit publish until Monday morning, right before going out to shovel.
Here are rose hips during the early hours of the storm on Sunday afternoon.
Our street during the snowstorm
Our street the next morning – lots to shovel
My neighbor’s tree
Piles of snow one day later
I’m so grateful I live in a tiny little borough that plows its streets. Yay to everyone in Borough Hall or the Department of Public Works who ensures that this happens!
