The Jimmy Shimmy & Dishpan Hands

Yeah yeah yeah it’s been too long since I posted anything.  No excuses.  I have come to realize that since I have been Facebooking and Twittering it is much easier to express my inner weirdness very quickly.  Anyhoo, I felt the need to continue with some more humorous stories about my father-in-law.

Susan’s dad was named James and usually went by Jim unless he was being teased by a family member when he was referred to as Jimmy.  Needless to say he was referred to as Jimmy most of the time.

Now Jimmy was a real popcorn fanatic (remember, this was pre microwave popcorn).  He was what I would call a popcorn purist.  He had turned making popcorn into a fine art.  His popcorn making system was as follows:

1.  Take out the pan for making popcorn. (Which in his case happened to be a heavy duty pressure cooker.)

2.  Pour oil in the pan.

3.  Place in 1 or 2 kernels of popcorn and turn on the stove.

4.  When those kernels pop add the rest of the popcorn and begin to slide the pan back and forth on the stove causing your entire body to “shimmy”.  (This is the birth of what we called the “Jimmy Shimmy”.)

5.  After the popping is done, enjoy!

This system worked well and made some incredible popcorn IF all the steps were followed.  This is where I come in.

I was at Susan’s house before we were married and Jimmy began to make some popcorn.  He did steps 1-3 and then got busy doing something and totally forgot he had started making popcorn until the house filled with putrid smelling smoke.  The burned pressure cooker looked like it was coated on the inside with 1/8 of an inch of asphalt.  Looking to impress my future father-in-law I grabbed the cleaning products and spent over an hour cleaning the asphalt out of the popcorn pan.

Of course Jimmy is still hungry for popcorn and decides to make a fresh batch in his newly cleaned pan.  Again steps 1-3 are followed and he promptly forgets the pan until the house fills up with smoke.  Once again future son-in-law scrubs out the popcorn pan.  If I remember correctly Susan’s mom said that was enough popcorn for one day.

I have to say the dishpan hands were worth it.

Susan and I are celebrating our 30th anniversary this August 25th.

Tags: inlaws, popcorn, shimmy