My daily snack

If, like me, you've always thought that microwave popcorn was a one-trick pony, here's a twist on a familiar go-to snack.

I was recently sent a delivery that included a box of Cineplex Big Screen Snax microwavable popcorn, along with a big tin can full of Cranberry Caramel Corn, with the recipe attached. 

The thought was nice, but the popcorn was stale. I liked the idea behind the caramel corn born of microwavable popcorn though, and have definite plans to pop up some corn and make the recipe my own. Perhaps I'll sub Smarties for the cranberries, and I'll likely throw some nuts in there too. 

But for now, here's their recipe. Let me know how it goes.

CRANBERRY CARAMEL CORN

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup corn syrup

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries

2 bags Cineplex Big Screen Snax light popcorn, popped

Method:

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt butter, stir in corn syrup, sugar and salt; stir constantly until mixture comes to a light boil. Simmer without stirring for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Stir in baking soda and vanilla (careful! it foams up).

Put popped corn in a large bowl, pour hot mixture over corn and mix well. Add chopped cranberries and spread coated corn into large cake pans and bake for 30 minutes, stirring at the 10 and 20-minute intervals.

Remove caramel corn from oven and allow to cool for 10-12 minutes before serving.

Sedaris and Caramel Corn

I have sore cheeks today. I woke up with sore cheeks because I was smiling so hard and laughing so much last night.

Because I went to the David Sedaris reading at Massey Hall. 

If you've never read him before, you should. He writes short stories, mostly about his fun but dysfunctional family, and his longtime boyfriend Hugh. Start by reading the "SantaLand Diaries", move on to "Naked" and "Me Talk Pretty One Day" and a few others, before making your way to his most recent release, "When You Are Engulfed in Flames". (It starts out slow but quickly picks up steam.)

Now, this is a food blog so I would be remiss if I didn't mention the delightful snack we were eating while enjoying David Sedaris. 

Earlier that day I had a great lunch at Four restaurant -- my recent successful lunching streak continues unabated. Petit Four is at Bay and Wellington, in the food court of the Commerce Court South, Concourse Level. It shares the space with the subterranean restaurant Four. 

Four is incredibly unique in that chef Gord Mackie's menu is a commitment to healthy but classy eats in the Financial District. All of the dishes are packed with colour, flavour and nutrients and are less than 650 calories -- with many far below that. Petit Four, meanwhile, is all about satisfying take-out -- sandwiches, soups and the like, including on-site baked goodies and sweets.

Knowing how my friend Joanna loves her caramel corn, I grabbed her a bag of their homespun, nutty, crunchy, sticky caramel-coated popcorn as a wee thank-you for the awesome Sedaris ticket. And it was good.

But not as good as David Sedaris