Popcorn

    Of course it's 2012, so this isn't going to be useful to a lot of people. But say you're roughing it in a cabin with no microwave. (This, clearly, is a pretty loose definition of "roughing it.") Or, ya know, the microwave breaks. Work with me on this!
    Point is, having given up soy and dairy, my microwave popcorn options are few. Also I don't have a microwave. So I take care of my tragic popcorn addiction by popping corn on the stove like it's the '60s again. It never worked out all that well since I didn't know what I was doing. Then Food Lion, of all places, helped out. On their popping corn bag were more and better directions than I had seen before, including the information that you have to let the steam out or you won't be happy.
    I wanted to be happy so I started popping the corn with the lid slightly ajar, and I got significantly better popcorn. I also got a very messy kitchen, which obviated the happiness from better popcorn, and caused me to quit popping corn. THEN I remembered that I have a splatter screen that I never use. So I tried that. The bad news is that while it prevents the flying grease from landing on and burning me, it doesn't stop the grease flying. So the kitchen is at least as messy as before. But the popcorn is freaking unbelievable. Just absolutely perfect. So there's that.
    Conclusion: if you worry about the additives in microwave popcorn and don't mind cleaning up a greasy kitchen (and are too cheap to get a popcorn popper:)), popping corn on the stove using a splatter screen works really great. Next: I try to make cocoa popcorn again and make a world-class mess!
    Update: I got my electric bill. John is receiving his mail again. That whole "Please Mr. Postman" thing finally worked. Yay!