A few of my favorite things: Garrett "chicago-style" popcorn

This week I was lucky enough to enjoy one of my all-time favorite treats - Garrett chicago-style popcorn, straight from Chicago!  My brother and sister-in-law flew home from Bolivia on Saturday, and they had a stop in Chicago, so they picked us up a bag.  Mmmm mmmm good!!

So what is chicago-style popcorn, and why do I love it so much?  It's a mix of cheese popcorn and caramel corn.  Yup, that's right.  I know, at first I thought that sounded like kind of a weird combination, but it's really soooo good.  And the popcorn from Garrett is unlike any other.  I've tried Kernel's "chicago-style" popcorn, but it's really not the same.  Garrett popcorn stores are only in Chicago or New York, so perhaps that's why it's such a treat - I rarely get to have it.

It all started in the fall of 2007, when Carey and I took a road trip to Chicago.  I was a couple months pregnant with Annika, so it was our last vacation before kids.  We did one of those "hop-on, hop-off" bus tours of the city (I really recommend those - lots of fun and you get a really good overview of the city), and with the tour came a coupon for a free bag of Garrett popcorn.  One of the tour stops just happened to be right in front of a Garrett store, so we got off the bus and went in to get our popcorn.  At first, the mix sounded weird, but we figured "when in Chicago..." and we gave it a try.  It's all history after that.  We've been lucky enough to have had the popcorn a few times since then.  When we've flown to Florida, we've stopped in Chicago a few times along the way, and we always pick up a bag in the airport.  One time we almost missed our connecting flight home because we stopped for popcorn.  Oooops.  We made sure to hide the bag as we walked onto the plane with all the other passengers staring at us. ;)  We've also had friends and relatives travel to Chicago, and they've been kind enough to bring us back a bag.  Even day-old, it's still delicious.  You can also buy the popcorn online, on the Garrett website, but it's quite expensive with the shipping so we've never actually done that.  Maybe one day, for a special occasion (like my 30th birthday next year??  Hmmm, I'll have to start hinting).

So thanks again to my brother and sister-in-law for making it possible for me to enjoy one of my favorite things this week. :)