Hot Lunch Date

I was browsing the blogosphere and came across this company, Hot Lunch.

They make date boxes for super FUN and CREATIVE dates!  Everyone, married or single, needs to add a little spice to their dates every once in a while, so I used their idea for a Night at the Drive-In date last week because we couldn't get a babysitter.

We picked up our movie snacks, snagged some equipment from the house along with a film, and headed out.

We found a really shnazzy drive-in venue...

...the GARAGE!

Front seats slid all the way forward, laptop resting on top of our shoe organizer from the entry way, baby monitor in case the girls decided they didn't actually want to sleep, a cuddly blanket and we were set!

Never mind what the neighbors thought as we walked into our garage, shut the door and didn't come out for a while.  A drive-in movie never looked better!

Now, you may be thinking as you look at this picture...

...That's all fine and dandy, but how do you get the delicious popcorn you'd get at a movie, in the comfort of your own backseat?

Even if you weren't thinking that, I'm about to tell you.  Because I often CRAVE movie theater popcorn, but it's not worth the extra money to pay for the Movie Theater style microwave stuff from the store.

Here's the trick.  Most movie theaters use two things on their popcorn that we don't have at home-powdered salt, and that liquid butter stuff that somehow doesn't make your popcorn soggy.

First, powdered salt.  Salt in powdered form actually sticks to the popcorn so you don't have a big pile of it that just ends up in the bottom of the bowl.  You can decide to use some other seasoning salt, in powdered form, or, simply grind your own salt up. Some sites say use your blender...I didn't need that much salt, so I used my make-shift mortar and pestle...AKA, a bowl and the handle of my ice cream scoop.

Just grind it until it's powdery and not grainy, then sprinkle on as much as you want.

Now for the butter...mmmm...

Even if you use REAL butter, there is still water in it, and it still tends to make your popcorn a little soggy.  So, take your real butter and melt it.  The pure, oily butter part will separate from the water.  See the whitish/yellow part compared to the clear stuff?

Skim the whitish/yellow part out and drizzle over your popcorn (air popped or microwave popcorn).  Toss the popcorn to get an even coat, sprinkle a little salt, and you've got movie butter popcorn!  All in the comfort of your own backseat...

And if you haven't entered the handmade giveaway, check it out HERE!