…One Is Silver And The Other’s Gold.
Do you remember that wonderful song, done in a round? We sang it at all our girl scout gatherings and I still love it.
Since I’ve accumulated many years and lived in many places, I have lots of “gold” friends. Too many to mention, but here’s a quick idea: Karen, the original girl scout friend along with all the Kettle Killers, members of the class of ‘80 trip to Lake George, Donna Summer aka Pat, college roomies Julie and Tracie who ended up to be related in the end, Sue who has never given up on me, Steve who likes to ‘walk up’ chicken, Stamford Ward friends including cooking guru Carlin, Stanford Ward friends, Judy my mentor: “That’s just men,” laurels from Fair Oaks, and a few LDSFS friends ‘Who Cannot Be Named’ (who know who they are!) Not to brag, but that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of people who I love and miss. It seems I am reminded of how many people that ‘I can’t let go’ every December when I start my Christmas card list. (As an aside, facebook now brings my obsessive-compulsive-friend-keeping behavior to a new all-time high…)
I have one ‘gold’ friend who probably is steaming right now for the lack of mention…and it is Amanda! She is not only a frequent commenter on this blog, she is someone I can tell almost any problem/worry/complaint/humorous story to without censorship. She understands and will discuss with me ad nauseam the complete injustice of infertility, of which bad thoughts creep upon me from time to time after all these years-still. She is the one person, besides family, I can ask to watch Jack and know it wouldn’t bug her. That’s saying a lot.
Unfortunately, I’m not her ‘two houses away’ neighbor anymore. Hence, the gold status. She visited me two summers ago since I now live on her lane:
Every year for Christmas when we were neighbors she would bring our family her very yummy caramel popcorn, and, true confession, I would keep it all to myself! I emailed her a couple of weeks ago to ask her for her recipe. She replied: “Sorry you'll have to make your own popcorn this year. I'd much rather take it around the corner to your house!” I made it to enclose in gift boxes for a few friends and family since it’s the perfect packing material treat. Hope it arrives as tasty as it left. Thanks Amanda, and I miss you!
Merry Christmas to all my gold and silver friends!
Amanda’s Caramel Popcorn
1 lb brown sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 stick butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk
dash salt
1 tsp vanilla
2-3 gallons of popped corn (after a less than perfect tester batch, I settled on making 2 batches of popped corn using 3/4 cups of popping kernels total.)
Boil sugar and corn syrup, add stick of butter, stirring to blend as it melts and bring to gentle boil. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk, stirring constantly. Cook to soft ball stage (234 to 240 degrees), stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add salt and vanilla. Pour over popped corn, coating well. Spread out on cookie sheet until cooled.
