ANTIDOTE TO WORRY: POPCORN

Popcorn is one of my favorite comfort foods. It fills me up, is healthful, tastes delicious and I pretend that eating this overflowing pot of it, sprinkled with sea salt, won’t make me feel squeezed in the waist by my elastic waist pants.

When my oldest daughter Eliza was a toddler, I thought it would be fun to place the electric popcorn maker in the middle of the living room, take off the top and watch the kernels explode all over the floor and furniture. I was right; for excitement it rivaled, hm, well nothing I can think of.

I took the above photo 25 years later in Eliza’s apartment. We became overly zealous with the amount of kernels and this time we were the ones all over the floor, cracking up, wondering when it would ever stop popping.

We were like Lucy and Ethel in the “I Love Lucy” episode when Lucy and Ethel were trying to prove their pioneer bona fides to Ricky and Fred by baking bread. Lucy misread the recipe and used 13 cakes of yeast instead of 3.

You won’t be sorry if you try our fabulous popcorn. Basically put a puddle of olive oil in a pot and when it starts to steam a little, add a layer of kernels and cover. Shake until finished popping. I lift it on and off the stove so the bottom kernels don’t burn, and I use plenty of olive oil.

What are your comfort foods?

LOTS ABOUT MARRIAGE, RELATIONSHIPS AND MORE IN MY NEW MEMOIR . . .

Confessions of a Worrywart: Husbands, Lovers, Mothers, and Others                                                  Check it out on Amazon.com, Kindle, and Smashwords

Readers of all ages will relate to this deeply personal story, told with comical sensibility by a quirky, startlingly honest mother, daughter, ex-wife, and dog lover, who—à la Nora Ephron—will feel like a dear friend. Confessions of a Worrywart: Husbands, Lovers, Mothers, and Others will stay with you long after you finish reading it. (adapted from Amazon description and culled from Amazon reviews)

Maybe your mom or daughter is a worrywart or would just enjoy an engrossing memoir for Mother’s Day.

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