Broken bones, blanket forts & nutty salted caramel popcorn

We’ve been holed up at Casa Eats World this weekend, unable to escape. This is due mostly to the fact that somebody broke Mr Eats World. Yes, broke. In to pieces. You see, his colleagues had one of those brilliant ideas that only seem to occur to boys that saw him participating in a “team building exercise” where in order to “bond” he and his co-workers were told to race each other at extremely high speeds in go karts.

The ever-obedient Mr Eats World did exactly as he was bid and, embracing his inner Lightning McQueen, fanged it around the track. At high speed. Until he crashed. A lot.

Pretty much immobilised after cunningly fashioning his ankle into a mangled stump, he spent the weekend hobbling about on crutches and sporting a broken finger that has turned such a gruesomely gothic shade of black it’d have Morticia Addams swooning.

He, and we, are lucky, his injuries could have been far worse, but his multiple owies certainly scuppered our plans for the weekend. Did I mention that the only way in or out of our apartment is via steps? 54 of the buggers! Or that mens’ ankle injuries bare an uncanny resemblance to acute man flu? Oh, and that small children tend not to enjoy being cooped up in apartments for days, especially when they can’t leap all over their freshly broken daddy?

But cooped they were so we had to implement our imaginations and enjoy our weekend adventures indoors! And it was exhausting! They’ve trekked across perilous sofas, climbed the steepest dining chairs and swum through a shark-infested moat to reach the “Lost Temple of Netflixia!” – a place formerly known as my living room.

Building a simple blanket fort was never going to cut it for my little adventurers who – inspired by a weekend of the dragon-taming, treasure-hunting adventures they discovered on Netflix’s ever-evolving library of awesome kids movies – fashioned their build-a-fort set into a jungle temple – complete with giant statues, magical amulets, fearsome guards, jungle drums and … disco lights! Because you never know when the urge for a little jungle boogie is going to strike.

But a weekend of epic quests and dodging of danger can leave one rather hungry so we whipped up a bowlful of the most popular snack in all of Netflixia – nutty salted caramel popcorn. The perfect treat for my nutters… even the big broken one!

The Recipe
Nutty Salted Caramel Popcorn

Ingredients:
1/2 cup popcorn kernels
1tbs olive oil
2 cups caster sugar
125grams unsalted butter
Sea salt flakes
25 grams slivered almonds
25 grams slivered pine nuts.

Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to170 degrees Celsius.
2. Heat olive oil in a saucepan on low-medium heat and add corn kernels. Cover with a lid and swirl over the heat until the kernels are popped.
3. Remove popped corn from heat and spread over a lined and greased baking tray.
4. Place the sugar in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved.
5. Add the butter and quickly whisk until caramel forms.
6. Pour the caramel over the popcorn and toss gently using two well-oiled spatulas until the popcorn is fairly evenly coated with caramel.
7. Sprinkle with pine nuts, almond flakes and sea salt.
8. Pop into oven for five minutes, then remove and allow to cool.
9. Once cool, break into bite-size pieces and enjoy!

Disclosure:  As a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam we received a years subscription to Netflix, and while I will be posting regular updates about the service, and what tasty treats we scoff while we’re watching it, all opinions expressed will be our own.  

Sharing our TV snacks with Essentially Jess for #IBOT

An award-winning travel writer and photographer, Aleney de Winter was fresh from school when she first set off to explore the far reaches of Australia with a two-man tent and a beaten-up Kingswood for company. Three decades, and two kids later, and she's still on the go, with her itchy-footed offspring in tow.