Day 45
It’s another “Act Like I’m Not A Drunk” Saturday. I hope everyone is hangover free and ready for wonderful fall Saturday. I’ve been reading the message boards “listening” to all the newbies lamenting about not getting to get dressed up and go to assorted Halloween parties this weekend. It’s not really bothering me that much, partly because I live like a hermit up here in CO and if I did wander down the mountain to one of our two bars in town for a Halloween party nobody would recognize me whether I was wearing a costume or not. But also because I’m kind of used to missing Halloween Parties anyway. I remember years ago when I was married to DH numero uno we were invited to a Halloween Party that one of his trucker buddies at work was throwing. I was all excited, it wasn’t often that a young wife with two squalling babies got to dress up and go out and spend time with a bunch of truckers, not unless she was trying to earn a little extra money.
A friend and I had worked out a kid exchange, she was watching my kids on Friday night while DH 1 and I went to our party and I was watching hers on Saturday so she and her DH could go to their party. After I got off work that Friday I hurried home to put my costume on. Being an OR nurse and being poor (the two go hand in hand) I went with the easy cheap costumes, I was the patient and DH1 was a doctor, roles we had played many times before in the privacy of our own home. I wrapped my head all up in gauze and donned a patient gown (I was wearing leggings and a t-shirt underneath for a change that night), I drew some bloody gashes on my face with my lipstick, I even went as far as taping a catheter bag and tubing to my thigh. Inside the catheter bag I had placed a happy little gold fish who was swimming around swimmingly. The party was supposed to start at 7:00 pm and at 5:30 I was already ready and eager to go and get some grog. Friday was DH1’s day off and as usual he was out hunting. 6:00 pm rolled around and still no DH but that was not unusual, I never did figure out how he was able to hunt pheasant after dark. 7:00 pm came and went and by now my foot’s about to fall off from me bouncing it up and down, the poor little gold fish is looking a little green around the gills from all the turbulence and he keeps trying to do the back float. At 8:00 DH comes through the door and I am so pissed off I can’t even talk. The DH looks at me quizzically and calmly says, “Kary, the party is tomorrow night.”
My mother was right, we should have spent more time talking and less time playing doctor.
Well, Chaz finally got kicked off of DWTS, I wonder what he’s going to dress up as for Halloween, wouldn’t it be ironic if he dressed up as a woman? I actually took care of a couple once that were both going through sex change operations, the husband was turning into the wife and the wife was turning into the husband. How the hell do these people find each other? I don’t know who will be voted off next. Hope or David or Nancy. I hope it’s Nancy, my prim Polish sister-in-law says she is tired of looking at Nancy’s sausages every week. I thought she was talking about her boobs but she was talking about her legs. David Arquette has improved but he is one goofy son-of-a-gun. I watched him on Chelsea the other night, I love Chelsea, and he was giggling so much you couldn’t understand a word he said. It reminded me of me and my best friend when we used to sit down in my basement and get drunk and get the giggles. I do miss that sometimes. Hope is probably safe for a couple more weeks because people want to see Maks and Len fight some more.
I got my Halloween boxes to the grandkids in the mail before the snow hit this year. I sent popcorn balls for them and this adult spicy version of caramel corn for their parents. I don’t know if it is good or not since I’m still on the Atkins. I did chew up some of the spicy peanuts and spit them out just to get a taste and they tasted good. My oldest son said it was awesome but it wasn’t that spicy. I added 1 teaspoon of cayenne so if you like it hot, add more.
Spicy Peanut Caramel Popcorn
For the Spicy Peanuts:
2 1/2 cups roasted, unsalted peanuts
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons sugar (white, light, or dark brown)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon chili powder
¾ - 1 teaspoon cayenne
For the Caramel Corn:
10 cups freshly popped popcorn (popped without added salt or fat) I used about 3 bags of plain microwave popcorn.
1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Procedures1
To make the peanuts, preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, salt, chili powder, and cayenne in medium bowl. Toss until peanuts are well-coated. Transfer peanuts to baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until nuts around edges of pan are beginning to darken, 15 minutes.
Allow nuts to cool completely on baking sheet. They will stick together, almost like brittle. Break nuts into bite-sized pieces. Spicy peanuts can be made up to one week in advance.
To make the caramel corn, preheat the oven to 200ºF. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. .
In medium saucepan, combine butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low, clip candy thermometer to side of pan, and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture reaches 238ºF. Immediately remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla.
Pour hot caramel over popcorn. Toss until evenly coated. Transfer popcorn mixture to baking sheet and bake 40 minutes, stirring once halfway through. Remove from oven and continually stir to keep popcorn separated. When popcorn loses most of its stickiness add peanuts and mix. Caramel corn will keep for 2 to 3 weeks, stored in an airtight container at room temperature.
I’m headed to Las Vegas today for some good Mexican food, wish me luck. That’s Las Vegas, NM enroute back to Carlsbad.
See you on Monday.
So today I’m just out there just doing my best to enjoy the ride and hoping I can talk the cap’n into stopping off at the Hobby Lobby in Pueblo. He just loves that place. He could spend the whole day browsing the aisles. NOT!!! It’s so much more painless to shop online.
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