Gourmet guide to popcorn

I think microwave popcorn is sort of horrible, with its fakey butter smell that reminds me of butyric acid experiments (unauthorized) from high school chemistry. But the whole world seems to have converted to it. Shopping at biggs the other day, I found only one kind of regular, pop-in-a-popcorn-maker popcorn. Orville Redenbacher's is now the only choice. That's OK -- he's a fellow Hoosier-- and his popcorn puffs up big and tender when I pop it in an old-fashioned top-of-the-stove maker like this (though mine is grungy and gummy from years of use.) It isn't one single bit more difficult than doing it in the microwave.

Usually, I just have popcorn with salt. But recently, I've been fooling around with putting exotic oils on it. I especially like it with walnut oil. Less with hazelnut oil. And then I tried a big bowl drizzled with black truffle oil. If you like the mushroomy, earthy taste of truffles, it is delicious. It turns popcorn from a normal couch snack to something more like an hors d'oeuvre. And my dog still waits for me to throw him a piece to snatch out of the air. I buy the truffle oil at Trader Joe's.