cranberry - orange caramel corn

Three reasons I love making caramel corn:

* It's an excuse to make popcorn the old school way: pot, oil, corn. You're drenching it in caramel; leave the air popper in the cupboard.
*The moment I add the vanilla and soda to the hot sugar syrup and it foams up kind of makes me feel like I'm performing magic.
*It is delicious.

This is a great fall caramel corn recipe that adds dried cranberries (so delicious), almonds and orange flavour to the caramel.  I can't take the credit.  The recipe is from this month's Better Homes & Gardens (for simple straightforward recipes, I can't recommend BHG highly enough) and more specifically from reader Ann Donnay.

12 cups popped popcorn (about 1/2 cup kernels)
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup whole almonds
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup light-colored corn syrup
2 Tbsp. orange juice
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. In a very large bowl combine the popped popcorn, cranberries, and almonds; set aside.

In a 2-quart saucepan cook and stir the butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in orange juice. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Boil at a moderate, steady rate for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda (mixture will foam up).

Pour the syrup mixture over the popcorn mixture in bowl; stir to coat well. Transfer to a 15x10x1-inch baking pan or a shallow roasting pan. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Transfer caramel corn to a large sheet of greased heavy foil; cool. Makes 20 (1/2 cup) servings.

jimmy, johnny & a dog named beau

election day, 1960

the cranberries

This weekend I got rid of the mini-pumpkins and waxed autumn leaves. November is here.  We've set the clocks back. But as the evenings get longer and the days greyer, I need some sort of decorative pick-me-up. And if it's simple and frugal, even better!

I really love the garnet colour of cranberries and they give a nice seasonal touch when it's too early to plunge headlong into Christmas decorating (and, yes, it is still too early). Make sure they're dry and got rid of any soft or bruised ones - the firm ones should stay fresh for little while but keep an eye on them.  It's tradition in my family that from late fall on we have a candle at suppertime so I added an inexpensive dollar store pillar candle.  I like the way the candlelight makes the berries gleam.

If your style is more contemporary, they'd look great in a row of tall glass cylinders or square vases.  A centrepiece in under five minutes for under $5! As Martha would say: it's a good thing.

mystery masterpiece

This fall I discovered - and, you know, I honestly can't recall how - Canadian mystery authour Louise Penny.  With her series, she's taken the traditional village mystery and brought it into the 21st century in Quebec's Eastern Townships.  There's so much to love about her books:  the cozy (yet disproportionately murderous) hamlet of Three Pines, her carefully drawn characters - each one lovable yet flawed so that you can imagine any one of them could be the murderer but are devastated to find out which ones are, her clever plots, her descriptions of food and the little nods to Canadian culture (from Tim Horton's double-doubles to the delicate Quebecois-Anglo dance in la Belle Province).

But above all other winning qualities of her books is her protagonist Inspector Gamache who readers not only seem to admire but fall in love with.  Turns out that's no accident.  Louise Penny explains why...