Today has been a terribly dreary day. Not stop rain. In fact it’s still raining as I post this. Luckily we set up the kotatsu last night. For anyone who isn’t familiar with the kotatsu, it’s a table with a blanket draped between the base and the top and connected to the base is a heater. You can snuggle around under the blanket with the heat trapped in with you. We first bought it close to 20 years ago when we lived in an apartment that had a pretty sad heating setup and it has been our greatest investment. We have replaced the heater a couple of times but we drag it out religiously usually late fall (but much later this year). Miss Zee and I were snuggled underneath after our rainy morning walk and I did not want to leave it to get started on work.
One of our favorite winter snacks that we enjoy at the kotatsu is popcorn. We make it the old fashion way… though I have entertained the though of getting an air popper. Anyway, here is a good basic recipe that we follow. Over the years I’ve messed around with various toppings. Last night I kept it simple and just sprinkled on some Nutritional Yeast and sea salt but I have tried several from this recipe post from time to time. We prefer the savory options but my sister Cait, who is also a popcorn fan has made the sweeter one. Between us both we have tried them all and both agree that they are great. A trick that I found that helps make the topping stick is to spray the popcorn with a little spray olive or avocado oil as you sprinkle your topping on. Btw, the corn kernels above are from a farmer at Waverly Market here in Baltimore. Very tasty.