Butter Popcorn, Cayenne Pepper Style

When a weird craving for microwave butter popcorn hits, go with it. Especially if it's at night. It can be deeply satisfying and yes, salty to munch through a bowl while reading or watching a laptop movie. It helps to have someone else running the movie and touching the laptop controls. Add to the fun and relaxation by doctoring up the popcorn's "golden" or somewhat faux butter flavoring with some sweet heat.

Last night, while I waited by the microwave to monitor some popcorn popping, my eyes fell on our clear glass spice jar of cayenne powder. How tempting and sexy that coppery-rusty colored red number can be! After I transferred the hot popcorn to a big bowl, I took a pinch of the cayenne and tossed it into the bowl. A taste test told me it wasn't enough. I continued adding more pinches of cayenne, stirring and spinning the popcorn and bowl as I mixed it in. I walked to our room, where Oscar was setting up a movie and headphones for me.

Next came a slow and delicate balance of moving my body under the covers so I could see the screen, anchor the laptop, and position the cayenne popcorn bowl and napkins. I warned Oscar that I had added a lot of cayenne to the popcorn. He grabbed a handful, and munched, concentrating on his book, Ambrose Pierce and the Ace of Shoots.

I had the headphones on and movie playing when I reached for more popcorn. The pieces with enough "butter" blend tasted the best: salty, creamy, and nutty, with a slightly fruity, dry heat that stuck to the back of my throat. I fed Oscar more handfuls of the popcorn. While eating, a piece that had too much cayenne caused me to suck air and gasp. I hit the paper napkins with my free hand. My eyes didn't burn or water, but cayenne's heat continued to suck all moisture out of my throat. Sucking more air in didn't stop or slow the burn, and yet it didn't spread it, either.

Fiery cayenne dusted popcorn didn't make me cry or grab for water. Oh, no. It put me to sleep in less than twenty minutes after finishing, eyes drooping under the laptop glow. Only a necessary bathroom oral hygiene (rinse, floss, brush) visit kept me from continuing the dreamy slumber. Hot stuff, indeed.