Liptauer Cheese Spread

This is another one of those Hungarian dishes I found in my old Hungarian cookbook from New Brunswick, NJ printed in the 50's.  Lipto cheese is a sheep's milk cheese similar to feta but soft like cream cheese.  It's nigh on impossible to find here where I live but not to worry, Neufchatel cheese is a great substitute.  I used the Fresh Market brand of Neufchatel in making this recipe.  Traditionally Liptauer is a snack consumed while drinking beer.  It's served on toast points usually with thin sliced of Kolbas.  I used a Genoa salami instead but any kind of preserved stick pepperoni or summer sausage will work.  It's best to make this a day ahead and let the flavors meld in the refrigerator.

1930's Movie Theater Popcorn

We've been on something of an old movie kick lately, Casablanca, Key Largo, The African Queen all great movies to sit down with a bowl of popcorn and enjoy.  This got me thinking though about popcorn itself.  The stuff in movie theaters now is absolutely horrible stuff with the texture of packing peanuts usually drowned in a greasy substance masquerading as butter.  It wasn't always this way though so I went on the hunt to see how popcorn was made and sold in the 1930's and learned a little about popcorn history along the way.