Popcorn and Movies

“An Academy Award nomination is stuff dreams are made of.” – Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy    

It’s “movie weekend!” 

The Oscar Awards take place this Sunday and I am very excited. I have been watching all of the movies nominated and I can’t wait to sit through the show and make my guesses for the winners and admire all of the beautiful outfits and hairdos etc. 

We’re going to have a cozy evening in and watch the show on Sunday. I have heard some people going all out and having an Oscar party where people dress up and there are favours, catered meals/snacks, and games. I think that that is kind of cool if you can gather enough friends who have a love for movies and if you have the time. I kind of want to get a bit festive so one thing I thought of when I think of movies is popcorn and I’m going to make some special popcorn for watching the show. This week I am going to share my caramel corn recipe so that you can make some for yourselves while you watch the awards show or just if you want a little snack. 

I also saw a cool little craft to make as well. I’ve always loved the idea of popcorn boxes; you see them in old movies/TV shows and I’ve always wanted to eat popcorn out of one of them. I’m not having a big party and I don’t really have the time or supplies this week to make these boxes, but I have the template and a few ideas for you. One day down the road I’ll give this little craft a try, maybe for a birthday party or games night.

Caramel Popcorn

You will need: 

2 tbsp. of canola oil (that’s if you pop your corn in a pot; I pop mine in a popcorn popper)

¾ cup popcorn kernels

2 cups of sugar

1 ¼ tsp. salt

To make:

Pop your corn in either a pan or popcorn popper. Then spread it out on baking sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray or coated with butter.

Stir the sugar and salt and ¼ cup of water in a heavy pot on low heat until it’s all dissolved. Increase the heat but don’t stir until the sugar water boils. Do this until an amber coloured syrup begins to form; it usually takes around 8 minutes. Make sure to keep a close eye on the mixture. Once it starts to change colour it goes fast; you don’t want it to get too dark because it starts to taste burnt. Try and catch it early and coat the popcorn with it as fast as possible. 

Once your mixture is ready, drizzle it over the popcorn on the sheets and toss. Be VERY careful not to get any of the hot syrup on you as it will burn and hurt!

Let it cool slightly and then put into a dish or mini popcorn boxes and enjoy!

Homemade Popcorn Boxes

I’m not going to go into too much detail here. I found this blog (called “One Charming Party”) with a how to and template. They are super cute and not too difficult to make. You could make the typical red and white boxes or come up with different patterns and colour schemes. Add some embellishments, ribbons, stamping whatever you like. The possibilities are endless!

Here is the link http://onecharmingparty.com/2012/07/10/printable-popcorn-box/