If meteorologists are correct, this will be the third consecutive year we’ve experienced an ice storm the last week of January. In my neck of the woods.
I remember, because every year I go to bake my oldest a birthday cake. Yet we have no power.
In 2009, this lasted. For. Days. (Whimper.) For others, weeks. We were the lucky ones. But this year, I wised up. I bought his cake.
I must admit, the first 48 hours of hunkering down are fun. Practically pioneer-y.
There’s something unifying about camping out in your living room, walled off from the rest of the house via quilts nailed to the wall, shivering in front of a wood burning fireplace with your pajama-clad kids and flashlights and open books and boardgames and a mutt with chronic halitosis.
I think that was a run-on.
And don’t forget the snacks.
Necessary snacks.
Everyone knows being snowed or iced in, is made better with proper snackage.
Like caramel popcorn.
A handed down family favorite.
I made ours last night.
Old Man Winter, we’re set.
As soon as I round up all the flashlights.
Caramel Popcorn
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
16 cups popped popcorn
1 cup nuts or M&Ms (optional)
Stir together first 5 ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stir constantly.
Remove mixture from heat, and stir in soda.
Place half of popcorn, and if desired nuts or candy, in each of 2 lightly greased shallow roasting pans. Pour sugar mixture over popcorn. Stir well with a lightly greased spatula.
Bake @ 250 for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Spread on wax paper to cool, breaking apart large clumps. Store in airtight container.
Photography courtesy of my husband.
My family's supposed to be getting upwards of two feet of snow and my mom's out of town for a funeral (with her parents) staying in a hotel… that'll be fun…
<>< Katie
Oh wow, Katie. That's a ton of snow! Hope they can stay warm.
The photos are gorgeous and the popcorn sounds delish! Those are exactly the things I used to love about big snow storms as a kid 🙂
Beautiful ice photos. I love the fence.
You know? My mom is a photographer. And I know she'd love these pics! They are awesome! I particularly love the third one. 😉