A Salty Tale of Many Poppers

Back when I was a kid, eating popcorn at home meant purchasing un-popped popcorn in plastic bags at the store, and popping it in a regular ole pan with oil on the stove-top. The neat thing was that back then, a packet of tasty butter-salt was included with each bag.


The packet’s directions advised mixing a half teaspoon of it with the oil before popping. I never understood the bother because the seasoning just stayed on the bottom of the pan. It would have been nice for it to coat the popped corn because doing so would have eliminated the effort of emptying half the popped corn into the serving bowl & salting it before emptying the remainder & applying more buttery seasoning. But I guess life was supposed to be tough back then.

Even though microwave popcorn is all the rage nowadays, I still prefer stove-top popcorn even though those buttery seasoning packets haven’t been around for years. I had not realized the packets’ contribution was missed until just recently.

Last year, I had a lot of fun troubleshooting a commercial corn popper, and while doing so concluded the secret to getting the buttery seasoning to coat the corn instead of settling to the bottom of the pan was to have a stirring bar keep everything mixed up during the popping process.


The repair effort inspired me to give buttery seasoning another shot. The hurdle now was to find some. The Pops-Rite brand appears to be a thing of the past, and no other brands of easily-available, supermarket popcorn include any seasonings. Oddly, while one store had a shelf with shakers of “alternate” popcorn seasonings (cheddar, cinnamon, etc.) the buttery seasoning of my youth was not to be found.

One Internet vendor had what I was looking for $2.69 plus $12 shipping. Considering the cost was for a 32 ounce carton of seasoning (roughly 21 packets worth), the price was not bad in spite of being a lot of seasoning. I was all set to order it, though, when someone recommended checking out Sam’s Club. Sure enough – Sam’s had a two-carton box (almost 47 packets worth) for $3.85.


In an unexpected bonus, the Mighty Pop brand Sam’s sold was what had been used while troubleshooting the commercial machine – It had a track record of good flavor.

The next hurdle up was locating a pan with a stirring bar. My first thought was to modify a pan & lid to use a stainless steel welding rod as a stirring bar. New pots & pans were looked at because I did not want to modify any of our existing cookware. Unfortunately, the current rage in new cookware is glass lids on everything, and the thought of drilling a hole in a glass lid (and using a glass lid with a hole drilled in it) made me uneasy.

One online company sells a new, six-quart corn popping pan complete with stirring bar, but user reviews were not very good, and I didn’t think the two gear transmission used to couple the stirring bar to the hand-crank on it looked like it would last very long.

While perusing eBay for options, I ran across a really old, electric, table-top popper with a lid-mounted hand-crank. I’d say it dates from the thirties or forties. The seller plugged it in briefly after being asked to, and posted that, while the FDR-era artifact did get warm, no effort was made to actually pop any corn.

For hoot value alone, I entered a maximum bid of $5. Although the closing moments of the auction were tense, my bid prevailed with quarters to spare. After adding an additional $10 shipping charge it was mine.


Little time was wasted after its arrival in popping a batch of corn with Mighty Pop seasoning mixed in the oil. The results were very good, and probably would have been excellent had I been wearing gloves: In order to crank the stirring rod, I had to hold on to one of the handles. When popping started, hot oil shot through the vent holes around the popper’s body and onto my hand. Reflexively, I kept letting go of the handle & stop cranking for a second or two.

If the rubber feet were not so dried out, there would probably be no need to hang on to the handle. Although the feet could be replaced for safer operation, while waiting to receive the popper, further research revealed that Target now sells a modern-day, bigger, motorized version of the same thing. Even though the unit was currently on sale, there had been no plans to buy the popper until the time came to clean the eBay popper – Due to the way it was constructed, dirty surfaces could only be wiped, and not rinsed. Between that, the antique’s relatively small cooking volume, and a desire to not wear gloves while cooking, I sprung for the Westbend popper.

Sweet – this modern day appliance even has a provision on top to allow real butter to drip on the popping kernels.


Its 1000 watt, Teflon-coated, mechanically agitated cooking surface produced tasty popcorn indistinguishable from that available at the movie theater.


As much as I enjoyed playing with my WW2-era cooking tool, it’s going in Kim’s next yard sale.


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Little to Lose At 39¢ a Pound

One of the bonuses included with the purchase of our house 17 years ago was most of a Brinkmann smoker. With the subsequent purchase of a new charcoal pan, Kim & I enjoyed several years of slow-smoked brisket, pork butt, and whole chicken. After the Boyz were born, though, we found that grilled burgers & hotdogs had more overall appeal. As a result, the smoker’s use diminished considerably.

The Boyz are now older, and Daniel in particular has appeared to enjoy some of the meat I have cooked over low, indirect heat on both the charcoal, and gas grills. The other weekend, Kroger had ten-pound bags of leg quarters on sale for the ridiculously low price of 39¢ a pound. Between that and a break from the rainy weather which has occupied every weekend of 2012, the time seemed right to experiment again with the smoker.

For this effort, the chimney starter was filled halfway with charcoal, and topped with big chunks of hickory.


When smoking meats, I lean more towards dry rubs than marinades. For this particular meal, the leg-quarters were rubbed down with olive oil before being sprinkled with a homemade variation of Emeril’s Essence, followed by a light dusting of a granulated & confectioner sugar mixture. Most dry rub recipes call for brown sugar but I’ve had trouble with it clumping & not distributing well over the meat. White sugar goes on more uniformly, and is not distinguishable to my bourgeois palate.

The poultry was then arranged on the smoker’s top rack after being allowed to sit at room temperature [gasp!] for several hours.


One of this smoker’s selling points is the “moist heat” which comes from a four-quart pan of water suspended above the coals. Although the pan was, lo these many years, always dutifully kept full of hot water I never thought that, other than throttling the heat a little, it did much, if anything, for the effort. Knowing when to wrap the meat in aluminum foil always had a bigger effect on how moist & tender the effort was going to be.

Out of a combination of general curiosity, a smaller fire than usual, small pieces of meat, and the outside temperature being in the 50’s, no water pan was used for the first time ever with great results.


There are no plans to throw away the water pan, though. While pleased with the way this meal turned out, I’ll wager the big hunks of meat that require longer cooking times need a barrier against the direct heat.

But all bets are off should I find beef or pork at 39¢ a pound.


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The Peril of Fresh-sliced Pineapple

Kim & The Boyz are all big fans of the canned pineapple available at the grocery store. Note just any variety, though – everyone’s preference is chunks packaged in natural juices.

So it was no surprise when Kim came home from a Pampered Chef party one day with a pineapple slicer. The allure was obvious - our household could now enjoy fresh-sliced pineapple whenever we wanted it. And, the tool’s ‘hoot factor’ appealed to both Number 1 son, and me.

The new slicer looked like a bigger version of our routinely-used apple slicer, and other than probably needing a little more force during slicing, no problems were anticipated in slicing the whole pineapple Kim brought home the other day.


Apples can be easily octagonalized with their slicer atop the counter. The pineapple could not. Fortunately, Daniel was willing, able, and flexible enough to handle the task once we decided it needed to be lowered for leverage.


Unfortunately, my vintage chopping block was not able to handle the strain.


In what was no surprise, failure occurred at a glue joint. Purchased new in ’86, I’m impressed the block lasted 26 years before having trouble with fresh fruit. It’s not a loss, though - I get great joy in working with wood, and own lotsa neat tools to work with the medium. The Shop’s jointer did quick work of creating new glue edges.


My first thought for glue-up was polyurethane-based Gorilla glue. I even had a new bottle waiting to be opened. But Elmer’s now offers a waterproof glue I’ve been waiting to try out.


Elmer’s Wood Glue Max appears to have some teeth – The next pineapple sliced with no problem.



My Old Hickory knife had no issues with the finish work even though it’s older than the chopping block (but not as old as the one my friend Dave uses).

Euell Gibbons once advised us, “Ever eat a pine tree? Many parts are edible.” Hmm, I wonder if my cooking gear is up to the carving challenge…



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Some 1156 LED Bulbs Are Just Too Dim

In June of last year, all the regular ole overhead bulbs in my vintage Airstream were replaced with modern-day, low-power, Light Emitting Diode light bulbs.

http://adventuresofacuriousfellow.blogspot.com/2010/06/let-there-be-led-light.html

Two months later, a few of the original bulbs were returned to their sockets because the vintage trailer’s dark cherry interior absorbed a lot of light.

http://adventuresofacuriousfellow.blogspot.com/2010/08/let-there-be-less-led-light.html

Yesterday, the remaining interior, LED bulbs were removed & replaced with the Overlander’s original incandescent bulbs. The only LED bulb in place now is mounted in the exterior scare light.

Had these LED bulbs been made with super-bright LEDs, I probably would have not had this problem.

Plans are to keep my eyes open for new products – the primary reason LED bulbs were considered was to save my OEM light fixtures’ lenses & switches.

Repeat As Required

The Boyz’ fall break found us & the Airstream on the road to St. Augustine Beach Florida with the Mighty Suburban, as usual, on point.

The first leg of the two day trip there had a new twist to it because Daniel was signed up to take an on-line test at a designated time in preparation of potentially becoming a contestant on a kids-week episode of Jeopardy! Not knowing how traffic would be, Kim made reservations at campgrounds with WIFI in two different cities to ensure the best chance of connectivity.

All appeared well until the test site became available 30 minutes prior to test time. The site would not let Daniel in because it thought our NetBook’s screen resolution was inadequate.


Fortunately, the campground had a guest computer in the front office which was more to Jeopardy's liking. Daniel thinks he has a shot at making the show.

This was the first long-distance trip with the Burb’s repaired air conditioning. For the first time in memory, I had to blend a little heat in on the lowest cool setting to keep everyone from getting too cold. A side benefit was the happiness kept my mind off the fact that the brakes had started pulling a little to the right under certain conditions.

We arrived safely at St. Augustine Beach, and set up camp under misty & windy weather. Deciding the beach would be no fun under the current weather conditions, we boarded a tourist trolley, and took in the sights of the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United States.


Day two of our two day visit found 30 mph wind with 8-10 foot sea swells.


Checking under the hood the night before leaving, I was surprised to find the rear reservoir portion of the master cylinder devoid of fluid. Having neither tools nor desire to troubleshoot the issue right then, the symptom was treated with a new bottle of brake fluid. Fortunately, even 446 year-old cities cannot escape having an AutoZone.

As expected, the corrective action had no effect on the brakes. Since the issue was with the brakes “pulling”, instead of “not stopping” we left St. Augustine Beach behind us.

Arriving at our halfway-home layover campground, I noticed one of the Airstream’s two LPG cylinders had run dry. To my surprise, the campground would not refill it citing the tank’s cert-date of 05/05/04 was too long ago. It’s hard to believe we’ve been Airstreaming for eight years now. Time flies when you’re having fun.

Oddly, although I knew that gas bottles need periodic re-certification, this was the first time I could recall anyone actually checking before refilling. No worries for the trip, though because the other tank sufficed for what was left of our vacation. We arrived home the next day without incident.

The Suburban’s maintenance log indicated the last rear-axle brake work was done in 1998. Only the shoes & seals had been replaced. Not that I forgotten doing the work by any stretch – It was the first full-floating rear axle I had ever worked on. Eight bolts to get the wheel off, and another eight bolts to disconnect the half-axle shaft: all by hand. Amazingly, only one special tool is required.


Nowadays I have a pneumatic impact wrench to help with some of the muscle work. A special tool wished for then as well as now to remove the hub/wheel drum assembly was an overhead crane – it was seriously heavy 13 years ago, and now felt 20 pounds heavier.


As suspected, the RH wheel cylinder was found to be visibly leaking. But I guess after 214,000 miles over 27 years it’s entitled to. The LH wheel cylinder’s leakage was still contained by the dust boot.

Brake return springs on any vehicle are tough to attach & detach. But the size spring needed for these 13” X 2-1/2” brakes adds quite the challenge to working on this truck. Although I remember the springs being especially tough to work with in ’98, I almost couldn’t extend them enough this go-around.

With a tenet of brake service being “repeat as required”, a younger person might have to perform the next iteration’s rear brake work - There’s no reason to break up a good-looking combo with a new truck.



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New Scrapbooking Table for Kim

One of Kim’s enjoyments is documenting our family’s life in Creative Memory type scrapbooks, and she is quite good at it. But between that, and making flyers & stuff to support the Weatherly PTA, and helping Jared with his homework, she started getting cramped for workspace. In addition, since the folding tables being used were constantly needed for other activities, constantly setting up & tearing down was getting more irritating with each iteration. Permanent workspace, and more of it, was needed.

When she ran her idea for an L-shaped layout past me, I thought it did not work that well with the existing TV/VCR cabinet.


I believe she thought likewise, but may have thought the cabinet was a sacred cow to me since it came out of my shop many years ago. At the time it was built, though, it was supposed to be a prototype, and did not even get painted until a few years ago.

Kim appeared quite willing to run with my suggestion of yard-selling both the cabinet & TV, and replacing the TV with a wall-mounted flat-screen.

After adding new, higher, power & cable outlets, the new TV was mounted first just to make sure the project’s footprint still worked.


Home improvement stores usually do not sell plywood with which I am comfortable for cabinet construction. But the big orange one happened to be selling flat, ¾”, seven-ply, Peruvian plywood, which looked like grade AB to me, for a very reasonable price.


The shelves for the paper –holders at either side of the work table were planned to be ¼-inch hardboard. But neither of the home improvement stores sell it in full sheets anymore. Fortunately, a local lumber company stocked ¼-inch MDF. Although there is little difference between the two, anyone who cared would never be able to tell since the paper holders were to be painted.

The carcasses were made of 3/8” BC plywood left over from the porch project and converted to BB with wood filler. The end grain was covered with basswood strips.

The work surface itself was laminated with special-order Formica. Nowadays, Formica is thin enough to roll up for shipping. It flattens back out after being allowed to relax overnight.


The project’s construction was split into two phases – Table, and paper-holders. Wall-mounted ledger boards support the outside of the table while a book case and sideboard support the ends. To keep from having a leg in the middle of the “L”, a ¾” piece of angle iron was screwed to the bottom to carry unintended loads.


Biscuits were used primarily to keep everything aligned.


The table was then disassembled and after painting, reassembled in Kim’s room to make room for the project’s next phase.


Kim already had a couple of paper-holders which were each half the height of what was needed. At one time, double-height units were available. Unfortunately, a current search turned up nothing. So I got the “fun” of priming & painting each side of the 22 boards (prime, dry, flip, prime, dry, flip, paint, dry, flip, paint) which make up the two full-height organizers with shelves spaced to Kim’s specification.


To avoid paint buildup in the shelf dados, the cuts were made after the side boards had been painted. I had never dadoed a board after painting, and was concerned about the paint scraping off at the tablesaw. Fortunately, no touchups were necessary.

While I was happy with how the project turned out, Kim was simply ecstatic about now having lotsa permanent workspace. Jared thought it was pretty neat, too.


Well, that’ll about wrap it up for this edition of The New Southern Workshop. If you’d like a measured drawing…

Just kidding; no plans are available – I figure only the husbands of Kim’s scrapbooking friends would be inquiring, and I doubt they do so willingly.


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What's Big, Tan, & EASILY Holds 250 Pumpkins?

The Mighty Suburban, of course!

Kim & one of her friends went up to Tennessee this morning to pick up the pumpkins for Saturday's Weatherly Elementary's Fall Festival.