Second Celebration

Koji's second birthday party was also a joint celebration, this time with Ashleigh (Real Birthday: April 14th) and Calli (RBday: April 20th, same as Koji but a year later). Our location was Lovelace Park in Evanston. You'll see below that we had some footraces in honor of Koji, a pin-the-accesory-on-Ariel game for Ashleigh, and some dance lessons to show Calli's grooviness, followed by some serious pinatas and cake galore (for pictures of Kristen's cake and Jenny's cupcakes, please click here and scroll down to May 10th. Though it felt a little overwhelming in the planning stage, the actual party was lots of fun and a great success. Thanks to those who came and celebrated with us!

Koji is FOUR

A very happy day to our birthday boy, Koji! Our first celebration was a joint cozmic bowling party with Takeru and Naoki, two friends from school. Bumpers were in place, so things went pretty well. Come to think of it, we never had to call a bowling boy to rescue a stopped ball from mid-lane so Koji must be bigger and stronger than the last time we went bowling.

A couple of incidents from the party: sadly, one little friend fell and cut his chin open on the hole of his bowling ball. He was bleeding pretty profusely. Thankfully, Aogu was there with us and able to go off to the hospital to facilitate communication between his mom and the hospital staff. Maybe we should start praying now for no bleeding at next year's party so Aogu can stick around!

Also, I've been trying to teach Koji to do his own wiping up when he finishes with a poo session. Not wanting to deal with the aftermath lest he does a poor job, I've also instituted "checks," where he shows me his handiwork and I declare it good or not so. Alas, I've apparently failed to explain that "checks" should only be performed at home...while at the bowling alley, he decided he had to go. The men's room was right there and the ladies' was far away, plus, his slightly older friend had to go too. So I sent him into the restroom with his friend and then stood next to the door, feeling a bit of pride for my little son, so grown up that he can go and poo without my help.

My special moment was thoroughly quashed when he came waddling out of the restroom with his pants + underwear around his ankles shouting, "Mama! Check me! Check!"

Happy Birthday, dear son.

California Adventures

An Open Letter of Apology to Friends Who Live in the Los Angeles Area and are Not Pictured Below:

I'm very sorry that we weren't able to see you when we were recently in LA. Worse yet, you didn't even know we were there. We had no malicious intent; rather, we had very little time and two small children to work with. So we did our best, and we are still regretful that we were not able to see you. We hope you will forgive us, and even think fondly of us and give us another chance if we tell you that we will be back soon, at which time we certainly hope to make up for lost time. Thank you.

Without further ado, here's a pictorial synopsis of the rest of our visit to Southern California:

On Sunday the 15th (a VERY belated but HAPPY 10th anniversary to Laurie and John!), we drove up just north of Ventura to visit Uncle Ken (mom's younger brother) and Aunt Cher. What great hosts! What a wonderful day! Cher, you were so thoughtful to borrow and prepare toys for the kids to play with, and Ken, Koji is still asking to go back to your house to play with you. Being with you at your house was so restful and lovely, and I loved catching up with you after not seeing you for so long. Your copies of this and some other pictures we took that day will be in the mail to you.

Monday the 16th: Koji and Mikayla got along pretty well, maybe even a little better than I thought they would. I was a little embarrassed that Koji couldn't finish having a picnic with Mikayla in the backyard for fear of the gnat that landed on his knee. And I also felt bad to discover that the fever he started at Disneyland had returned... in spite of these little glitches, we had a great day and hope to spend time with you all again soon!

Here's Will with Riva and Tyler: he came home from work early to visit with us, which made our already fun day with the Lees complete. If you check Riva's blog, you'll see that she was prompt to post a picture of our visit weeks ago...no, I'm not beating myself up about not being caught up on my blog, no way...

Koji and Izumi with Maryn, Kirra, Anna and Maya...yes, I know this isn't the best picture of my children, but it might be one of the funniest! I'm so glad that Kara and Mark were able to squeeze us in, it was great to spend a couple of hours with them and meet Kirra for the first time. She was SO smiley and sweet, I hope to see her again soon so I can sqeeze her!

Tuesday the 17th: I have two motives for putting this photo up: one, I want you all to know what a FABULOUS day we had visiting with Grandma (my mom's mom, aka "GG" = Great Grandma). Two, I want Grant to know that Izumi does still do "the eyes" once in awhile. Back to GG: thanks for having us. Our day went by much too quickly. One of the highlights was definitely watching you play hide and go seek with Koji. And I think we should make cookies again; those oatmeal raisin weren't bad for your first attempt in 20(?) years, but I bet we could do better. Also, next time I'm going to take my double stroller so that you and I can walk as long we want without having to cater to Koji! I love you!

Wednesday the 18th: It's been three years since we last saw Alex and KJ, and in that time, God has added Olivia to their family. She's eight months old now, and very cute. Cat thinks so too!

These little chocolates, which we used to hold some 'two days before your birthday' candles for Koji, are the only evidence I have that I actually spent most of the day with Cindi. Seriously, I had such a good time getting caught up that I didn't even think to take a single picture! Let's make up for that next time. Anyway, as I was leaving Cindi's house I realized that I had failed to prepare a cake, so she grabbed these chocolates and candles and set me all up. Phew! Cindi, not only are you fun to hang out with, you're a lifesaver too.

You can tell Aunt Cat has learned well at the "School of Dyson (nephew)". These presents are a hit. In fact, we've been carrying this plane around with us for several days now!

Though I'm posting this chronologically, I guess my comments don't have to be; I now know that Koji loves this game, and well he should. Thanks, Alex & KJ!

Look closely and you'll see that Izumi is modeling a barrette that KJ hand made for her. KJ, you should sell those on Etsy.

Thursday the 18th, er, "today": Flying home, Izumi was tired enough to take a little snooze on Aogu's lap, which is saying something. Oh yes, that is Aogu behind the mask. He's so hygenic.

Murphy Went to Disneyland With Us

It's been two years and nine months since Cat and Darren got married, which means it's been that long since we were last in LA. Now that Aogu has a client out there, I decided to invite the rest of the family along for his current trip. And I thought that since Koji is not yet four, we would take this last chance to get him into Disneyland for free. You idiot, you're saying, Disneyland is not free once you're THREE, not four. Well, I know that now, but by the time I figured it out I had convinced myself that we HAD to go anyway.

Keep in mind that we had arrived in LA late on the previous afternoon, checked into our hotel and then heard that we wouldn't be able to meet the friend we had planned to see. To compensate, I took the kids out and stayed that way for a little too long. Finally, I got them back to our room and in bed and asleep, which was a miracle since we were all in the same room. Then I couldn't sleep because it was still not late by Chicago standards. At last, we all were asleep and then the fire alarm went off! No joke!!

When we heard it and noted that it was 2 a.m., we were so dazed that we thought the goofy kids who were in town for the tennis tournament were playing joke with their alarm clocks or something. Aogu eventually figured out that it was for real, so we woke the kids up and carried them down five flights of stairs to stand around in the parking lot in our pajamas. Thankfully we had the key to our rental car, so I got in with the kids and blasted some heat.

As for the fire, it wasn't that at all. Rather, a sprinkler had gone haywire in the fitness room and flooded it, which somehow set off a fire alarm. Water was dripping heavily from the ceiling of the lobby, and some of the tiles were even falling out. At long last, we were allowed to go back to our room and back to bed, but we did not get much sleep!

Nevertheless, we trooped off to Dland, arriving at a little past 10. We had a Mickey cookie--pictured above--for a mid-morning snack, then we walked through the castle and rode the carousel. Next up was the Dumbo ride, which Aogu and Koji waited for at least an hour to get on.

Next on the agenda was cotton candy, note that all so-called dietary caution was thrown to the wind for the sake of a fun day at Disney! Koji was acting pretty sluggish and I thought it was weird, but I chalked it up to the sleep deprivation of the night before.
So we motored off to Toontown, where Koji experienced his first roller coaster. It was while the two of us were waiting in line next a giant comb that he said it. "Mama? I want to go home." EXCUSE ME?! This is the same child that never ever wants to go home from anywhere and lets me know it loudly and clearly when I say that we are leaving (exception: food markets).

This declaration was so out of character for him that I knew there was something seriously wrong, so I started poking around at him and sure enough! He had a fever!

Can you stand the irony of it? Of course, though I wanted to just have him take a nap in the stroller and then press on, Aogu (wisely) insisted that we should leave. So we did, five hours after we arrived. Try to resist calculating our per-hour rate for all that fun...

Thankfully, two good things came out of this craziness: first, though I was sure the whole thing was a fiasco, Koji later declared that we had a lot of fun at Disneyland and that he wants to go there again. Phew. I didn't want him to be scarred by the incident; "Disneyland makes me sick" or something of the sort. Second, we were hungry, so we just had to stop at In-N-Out Burger.

Murphy, I don't actually believe in you, but just in case: next time, stay back at the hotel and clean up the fitness room. No Mickey cookies or double-doubles animal-style for you.
P.S. A very happy FOURTH birthday to Ashleigh Michelle!

"Cultured" Has a New Meaning

A couple months ago, I got my second annual 'we're coming to Chicago!' call from long time and dear uni (that's what Australians call university, "uni," and I think it's a good idea) friend Cat. We made plans to get together and she said that they wanted to see Wicked, as a friend's daughter is one of the stars. I suppose this story would be a tad more interesting if I knew the friend's name or at least which character she plays, but I don't and that's not the point.

The point is, we planned to go today. I left the tickets up to Cat because I haven't exactly been a hugely cultured theatre-goer in the years I've been here (as if I was before...?!). We arranged for a babysitter, which for some reason is a HUGE deal for me. But then last night, Cat calls and says that because her father-in-law nearly died over the weekend, she wasn't able to get the tickets after all.

Whoa! Of course I didn't mind, I mean, it would have been great to go to Wicked but we live here, so theoretically we can go anytime. The thing that's funny is what we did instead; I was darn well going to go out since my babysitter was all arranged. Half of our evening was somewhat refined: we went for dessert at The Stained Glass. Very nice. I've never had dinner there and I'm not such a wine drinker, but their desserts are great. I like to try more than one thing, so if you check out the menu, you'll understand why I was so pleased.

Any bit of "culture" that was with for dessert was lost after that. We went to the movies and watched Blades of Glory.

Let's Memorize!

A little while ago when we were studying Exodus at CBS, someone gave me the following version of the Ten Commandments. It seems a little easier to remember than just memorizing the commandments straight up. I would love to give credit to the writer, but I don't have that information. Here goes:

Above all else love God alone;
Bow down to neither wood nor stone.
God's name refuse to take in vain;
The Sabbath rest with care maintain.
Respect your parents all your days;
Hold sacred human life always.
Be loyal to your chosen mate;
Steal nothing neither small nor great.
Report, with truth, your neighbor's deed;
And rid your mind of selfish greed.

Amen.

Baby's First Easter

As a reward to myself for NOT buying Izumi a bib that says, "Baby's First Easter," I'm allowing that to be the title of this post. It was, after all. Accordingly, a couple days before, I went to the Burlington Coat Factory to get the kids some Easter outfits. The fact that I accidentally bought a spring coat for myself is not the point. The point is, the little Easter dresses were so cute, it took way too long to choose one. I probably could have chosen more easily if I wouldn't have had a bridesmaid dress philosophy about it. You know, "she has to be able to wear it again". Let me stop yakking and get to the photos.

After all the deliberating, I finally went with purple and polka dots, two of my favorite things (Izumi as a favorite thing being in a separate, higher category and a foregone conclusion). Ultimately, I was almost more enamored with Koji's tie. You'll never get what I mean, but it's a zip tie! The knot is pre-formed and adjustable with a zipper. I could go on but what I'm saying won't be any clearer. It was convenient and clever.



We were blessed to be invited to spend Easter afternoon with Grant and Cheryl Lynn and fam at Grant's parents house. Thanks, Tom and Andrea! It would have been fun just to be at their house, but Andrea was above and beyond. She planned fun games.

And the fanciest, most poetic, most rewarding Easter egg hunt I've ever witnessed. Izumi even got some new toys though she didn't find any eggs (she may have if only three boys weren't desperately racing for them; she's spunky but in this case she didn't have a chance)!

Dinner was delicious!

As were Cheryl Lynn's egg cakes.

My carrot cake was another story, which I should probably be telling on my long neglected so-called food blog. I'm almost embarrassed to post there because I've left it untouched for so long. Anyway, I was all excited that I ordered some vanilla beans online for the frosting. But then, in a moment of reckless foolishness, I went too far with my recent flaxseed meal obsession and I threw some into the cake. Fool, I repeat. Maybe it's just as well that it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. The next day when I had half of it sitting around the kitchen, I normally would have been tempted, but in this case it was a cinch for me to toss the whole thing into the rubbish bin!!

First Hair Clip

That was weird, somewhere between Aogu being gone, then coming back from Tokyo with a horrific cold, then us sort of catching that cold but not wanting to admit it, and Koji having spring break and me frantic about how to keep him busy and wear him out enough to go to bed at the proper time, somewhere in there I totally dropped the ball on posting here for the last three weeks or so! Yikes!

But I did learn that swimming is the way to go as far as wearing the kids out.

And I also had time to observe and envy my fashionable friend's three-month-old Lily with a little clip in her hair (it's proper to give the fashion credit to my friend and not to Lily, right? it's not like she's dressing herself just yet). This was such an impactful sight, Aogu even noticed and requested that Izumi have a similar hairdo. Believe me, this makes it a huge deal! This is the guy who seemingly never notices appearances, good or bad. I mean, I guess he notices sometimes, but he rarely has an opinion that he feels like sharing.

Which is super long-winded intro to the picture above: 10 months and 20ish days old Izumi with her first hair clip!

Birthday Song Writer Royalties Go Cha-ching!

You know that story about the Happy Birthday song and how the guy (lady?) who wrote is a mega-quadrillionaire because they rake in royalties every time someone somewhere in the world sings their song? How can that possibly be true?

If it is though, then we are certainly making a sizeable contribution to the Birthday Song Pot.

Yesterday we went to a birthday party at Pump It Up. This is a warehouse-looking building that contains two enormous rooms full of "inflatables". Apparently, that is the new name for those rubbery castles full of air that kids can jump on. And now, they aren't just castles, but also slides, obstacle courses and so forth.

When we were invited to the party, I was a little skeptical, but foolishly so, because it was awesome! I thought I would be sitting there twiddling my thumbs while Koji bounced, but it turns out that moms could participate too. YES! Many of the other moms couldn't believe the sight of me enthusiastically taking advantage of the inflatables, but as for me, all that crazed jumping was downright therapeutic.

Interesting cultural sidenote: this party was for a Japanese friend from Koji's preschool. While we were there, one of the workers asked me where the presents were. It took me a minute to realize that it's not normal in these parts for guests to pay to get in to a birthday party, but that's exactly what we did. Rather than buying a gift for the birthday boys (this party was actually in honor of two children), we all paid to join the party. When I first heard of this system, I thought it was bizarre, but now that I'm used to it, I really like it. The parents of the birthday child don't have to break the bank to put on a really fun party, nor are they saddled with a ton of random toys that they have to write thank you notes for. Let's all think about this system, and possibly even adopt it?! What do you say?

Today we went to another birthday party. The location was a church gymnasium, and I wasn't sure how it would stack up to all those inflatables. But actually, I think Koji had as much fun or more at this second party. The birthday boy's parents planned some fun activities (like sand art!) and put out some really nice food; it's cliche but true to say "a good time was had by all".

Another truth: my social life would be sadly lacking if my son's friends didn't get steadily older and invite us to celebrate accordingly!

10 Months Later

Here's the only tiger I saw at the zoo today!

Though both Koji and Izumi are still recovering from the mysterious virus that plagued us all weekend, there was no way I was going to have us sit at home through a 73 degree March day! The zoo isn't that close to us, and last time we went it was a family outing, so I felt the strain of packing everyone up and getting us over there by myself. However, just being outside for the first time in months was certainly reward enough. I also enjoyed feeling that we were getting some value out of our membership and "meeting" Arnieta the baby giraffe.

What better way to celebrate Izumi's 10-month-old birthday?

Pretty in Poo

Following is a true story: those easily offended by graphic details regarding bodily waste are warned to read no further.

Koji was feverish over the weekend and complained of pain in his throat and mouth. Complained is probably too mild a word, actually. He's been literally screaming from the agony that waking up and swallowing or trying to eat produces. So this morning we were off to the doctor's office to see what walk-in hours were like.

Before we left, I changed Izumi's diaper. Therein were a couple of chunks of poo that I wanted to flush down the toilet. So I put the package of diaper and poo on top of the Diaper Genie and hauled Izumi off to her car seat. I then proceeded to forget about disposing of the diaper properly in my rush to get us off to the doctor.

When we arrived at the doctor, we found chaos and mayhem. Rather than wait to see how long it would take for the doctor to work her way through an entire page of names to get to us, I signed us up for an afternoon appointment and we left (much to Koji's dismay! I'm not sure why he was so bent on seeing the doctor right then? Maybe he still doesn't understand the difference between "later" and "tomorrow").

We got home just in time for Izumi's morning nap. I put her down and then got Koji settled with some Caillou. The moments of peace and quiet that ensued were so rare and precious, I should have known they were too good to be true. Instead, I ignorantly proceeded with cleaning the kitchen, working on the laundry and even making progress on some Bible Study.

At some point, I thought I heard a noise through Izumi's monitor, but I ignored it, hoping she would go back to sleep. Finally, two hours after I put her down, I went upstairs to check on her.

To my complete horror, I found that she had apparently woken up much earlier. She looked around for something to play with and found the formerly mentioned loosely wrapped diaper and poo package sitting easily within her reach. I'll never know exactly what happened next. But I do know that there was poo all over her sheets, the bars of her crib, her clothes, and most horrifyingly, her face. That's right, she ate her poo. Or at least sampled it.

Are you laughing or crying? I was crying, I felt so horrible for leaving her poo within reach. She doesn't know that poo isn't for eating! I shouldn't have given her a chance to sample it. Bad mama! Bad! Or so I said to myself, and the more so when I realized that she was feverish to boot.

I wondered if I would ever tell this story to anyone. I went to great lengths to hide the clean-up process from Koji so he wouldn't be inclined to repeat the incriminating story at a moment I least expected. How would Aogu react when he found out I poisoned our daughter with her own feces?

God is good, even in disgusting moments like these. He had my sister call. Of course I couldn't not tell her what had just happened, though I tried to keep it to myself. She just laughed and said that she's heard plenty of stories of babies learning to get their diapers off and then smearing poo all around and yes, even sampling it.

So that made me feel slightly less like Irresponsible Mama of the Year. Then I took the kids off to the doctor, and when I sheepishly told the doctor what had happened, she hardly let me me finish the story for insisting that possible poo ingestion and fevers were most definitely not related.

Finally, I told Aogu, and he cracked up and said, "You better put that on the blog". I'm almost ready to accept that this is a pretty funny story, but I think I'm still glad that I didn't take a picture. Please don't think less of my sweet little daughter...or me...this has been a true story, LIVE from Skokie...

Compare and Contrast

Aogu at Work

This is to remind us of what Aogu looks like at work. We need a visual aid, since he left today for two weeks in Tokyo. One week away has become somewhat acceptable, but I always thought two would be justification for the family to go along. And we almost did, but since he'll be kicking off a new project (in other words, super busy and out late every night) and since Koji would have to miss two weeks of school, even I had to admit that it just didn't make sense.
Pray for us, please! The next two weeks should be interesting...

America Voted?

Are we sure that just America is voting? Aogu and I have a non-PC theory, but it's the only somewhat plausible explanation for Sanjaya's continued presence on American Idol.... Perhaps Indian IT specialists are hacking in and messing with the votes? Think about it!

Fitness in my Future

Though I'm not a prophet, I'd like to boldly claim that I see fitness in my future. If I don't see it, then I really had no business joining Lifetime Fitness today. On the other hand, I'd be lying if I didn't admit the decision wasn't entirely based on my desire to get rid of the last 10 post-baby pounds. Financially speaking, the option to leave the kids in the Child Center while I drink coffee in the cafe, I mean, work out, is much more reasonable than hiring a babysitter. Furthermore, we can make memories at the pool during family swim time. And what I'm most (cautiously) optimistic about is the option to play squash. Ken and Aya taught me to play years ago at Liv, but I had to give it up when I moved here. Until now, I needed a court and someone to play with. Wouldn't it be great if fitness AND a squash partner were in my future?

New Exhibit at Kohl's

The new exhibit at Kohl Children's Museum is great! I thought we were just swinging in to wring one last bit of value out of our annual pass (expiring tomorrow) and it would be business as usual but instead:


You have until May 14th to see it for yourself!

Now You'll Never Believe Me

Once in awhile, in discussions of "hobbies" and/or "winter sports," I volunteer the information that I like snowboarding. The majority who hear this are incredulous; I assume because there is no topography around that lends itself to the pursuit, and/or because they have never imagined me as the sporty type.

The problem is, three of the sports that I enjoy (in addition to snowboarding: hiking and mountain biking) require serious or at least mild elevation, and that's something we are lacking here in Chicago-land. Another problem: I've been pregnant and/or recovering from miscarriages every single winter since 2002. Snowboarding and pregnancy are not compatible.

Imagine my delight and anticipation last month when we were in Oregon! Not only were we in Oregon, we actually stayed at Eagle Crest, which is within easy driving distance of both Hoodoo and Mt. Bachelor, for a whole week. Forgive me for my optimism, but I think I was justified in the months I spent looking forward to snowboarding.

Well. Once we settled in to those cosy and comfortable condos at Eagle Crest, getting out and on to the mountain wasn't the easy proposition I had anticipated. Having arrived on a Saturday, we finally made all arrangements and dragged ourselves out there on Wednesday, which was one day too late for agreeable weather. Instead, we were greeted with the conditions you see pictured above. Seeing as our equipment wasn't exactly top of the line, we chickened out and had lunch at Soba instead. It was OK, but not a satisfying substitute.

So now you'll never believe that I not only know how to snowboard, but I really like it and want to do it often. At least we got in an excursion to the Autobahn which kind of, sort of makes up for what I missed. This is the only case in which you'll hear me say that I am looking forward to next winter!

Employee Discount?

In an attempt to deal with the nasty weather (you think people who live in Chicago always complain about winter, but this is legit! it's been the coldest first half of February in SEVENTY YEARS) I took the kids for a mall-walk today. As if I can walk through the mall without going into a store; I admit it, I can't.

So we're in Old Navy, where I was lured by the Kids + Baby Sale. As always with being in any store, it's one eye on the goods and the other out swiveling for signs of Koji-induced ruckus and havoc. Fortunately, he was right next to me when he took interest in a wheeled stair contraption, which sported a big sign that said "Employees Only" next to a graphic of a person falling overset with a giant red NO circle. Here's how the conversation went:

Koji: I want to climb on this, Mama!
me: no, Koji
Koji: Why?!
me: Because that sign says it's only for people who work at this store.
Koji (while picking up stray socks and hanging them on a display): But I do work here, Mama!

Anyone need access to an employee discount?

Brain-Sharpening All Around

So I guess I need to work on my math skills (no surprise!) since today is actually Izumi's 3/4 year birthday, not last month, as I had erroneously claimed. Eight months out of twelve made her 2/3 year old, right?! The really sad thing is, it's taken me nearly the whole month to work this out, even though I had a nagging feeling that something was wrong.

OK. Now that she's nine months old, what should she receive for her birthday but a giant head bump? I was going to diagnose her with some kind of hematoma because it sounded fun to say, but when I went to read about them I was completely freaked out by the words "serious brain injury" and I gave up. As I was getting on to saying, she fell on her head today. Now that she's been pulling to stand for a whole month, I was overly confident in her balancing skills and left to her own devices at the edge of the train table. The formerly mentioned giant head bump was the sad result.

And I know I'm reading into way too much, but it feels a little bit like a pride goes before a fall thing, literally, in that I've felt so happy with her nice round head! True confession, now I am letting out the vanity that I've projected onto my children.

Possible action steps:
1. Get helmet for Izumi
2. Confess to Jesus re: this sin of vanity
3. Figure out sudoku, since I obviously need a mental tune-up

P.S. This is meant to be about Izumi, so I'd better note that she's finally started sprouting teeth! The bottom two have finally made their appearance, which I've taken as a sign that she can eat anything we eat as long as it is cut into eensy weensy bits...? Also, she likes to say "mama," though it's hard to know whether she just likes the sound of it or is actually trying to get my attention. It goes without saying that my money is on the latter!

2 Minutes and 45 Seconds

is the amount of time necessary to pop corn in my fancy new microwave popcorn bowl. Here's a picture for those who can't be bothered to click on the link.

Apologies to those who have already heard the story of why I "need" this bowl...here's what happened. A little while back I was on a popcorn quest. See, I usually have the munchies in the evening. So I have a theory that popcorn would be a less caloric choice than say, half a dozen chocolate chip cookies.
Therefore, I checked my options at Costco. That's where I saw that I could buy 36 bags of microwave popcorn for something like $9.79. I was reaching out to grab the box and put it in my cart when I noticed some humble, but large, 12 pound bags of purely unpopped corn languishing nearby. For a mere $2.79, I could be the owner of a lifetime supply of popcorn!
What I wasn't thinking about was how on earth to pop all that corn. Yeah. I tried putting it in a pan and shaking it over one of my (despised) electic burners. That worked, but I had to use oil, which somewhat defeated my low-cal requirement. And, it was hard to get all the corn popped without burning some of it.
Next, I tried making my own microwave popcorn by putting popcorn and oil in a brown paper bag. That also worked, but it was messy because the oil soaked right into the bag.
At last, I turned to online sources for inspiration, namely Cook's Illustrated, home of all the fine folks who test many products that I'm curious about. Thanks for the excellent advice!
So for now, pretty much every night, you'll find me crunching on popcorn from my red bowl. I feel obligated to use it well and often, since I paid an outrageous shipping fee to get it here! Does $7.00 shipping for a $9.49 product sound right to you?! I didn't think so!