Ummmm....candy...
I've got a huge sweet tooth.
Always have, always will.
That makes October an especially fun month.
My friend Scott is a Jehovah's Witness, so he doesn't celebrate Halloween (how sad, that's my favorite holiday!), but he says he loves this time of year because he can buy candy corn.
My friend Leslie feels the same way, and picks up bags of Brach's in every flavor--caramel candy corn, regular, and chocolate.
She then pours them all in a bowl together and we get sick from gluttony.
I was thinking about my favorite candies, and I keep coming back to old-fashioned varieties.
I love flavored Tootsie Rolls, and Blue Raspberry Tootsie Pops (the one pictured is a Pomegranate flavor).
The Caramel Creme are the round versions of the stick-shaped candy called Cow Tails.
The little peanut butter bars stir up some kind of childhood warm-and-fuzzy feeling for me.
They sort-of taste like Clark bars (remember those?), or 5th Avenue bars, or Chick o Sticks without the coconut (ummmm...Chick o Stick....).
Do I care that it's a ton of sugar and the dreaded corn syrup? Uh...no.
Do I care that this time of year is the busiest for dentists because fillings get pulled out and all that stuff? Uh...no.
Candy is fun and frivolous and nostalgic.
When I was a kid, I used to roller skate over to the little mom and pop store and buy Pixie Stix. It's cool those are still around.
Remember Razzles? Lik-a-Maid? Those little candy dots stuck on paper? O'Henry?
For my friend debs' birthday recently, one of the things I bought for her were pig-shaped gummy candies by Fred Ferkel out of Germany.
I sent away to Germany for them, spent a ridiculous amount on shipping, but they were fun and flavorful and worth it.
A week later I found them in the Cost Plus World Market down the street from my house!
Go figure.
Cost Plus is actually a great resource for candy though.
That's where I bought the chocolate-coated licorice (yum).
They carry a bunch of old-time candies like Mary Janes, Good and Plenty, and the little honey-flavored chewy things that I can't remember the name of right now.
Henry's Market carries big malted milk balls with a peanut butter filling (omg).
Funny how some sweets can only be appreciated as an adult.
I never cared for candy corn or Good and Plenty when I was a kid, but I do now.
I used to participate in a candy swap--it was fun.
I got some amazing things sent to me from the UK, like licorice pinwheels.
What are your favorites?
Labels: candy
6 Comments:
Barb, I am so with you on the candy at Cost Plus. That is the best reason to go in there. As to candy bars, I am originally canadian and believe it or not, there are bars that were (are) only sold there. There are three that I loved. "Eat-More"...which is the gooiest candy bar in existence. "Sweet Marie" which their website describes as "Fudge covered in fresh roasted peanuts and light rice crisps, all smothered in a rich, creamy chocolatey coating." And the third was called "The Virginian" and though it is not made any more, it had Brazil nuts in it. Never tasted a candy bar anywhere with brazil nuts.
I adore candy that is more "high end" myself. I guess it goes back to a trainer telling me that if I am going to have the calories, make them good. So, my splurge are these adorable boxes of toffee from Market Street Toffee. And i've been giving them to friends who have gluten allergies so they can have some candy too. See this stuff at http://www.marketstreettoffee.com.
Ha! Yes Amanda, I adore high end too. I like it all. Tonight I bought an organic chocolate bar with blueberries and walnuts in it. I love Godiva, especially in fun shapes like leaves. Though it's not expensive, I love See's bordeux (a coffee-flavored truffle), and I love Hawaiian chocolate with macadamia nuts that you always can find at Christmas. When I was in Belgium, I brought back seashell-shaped chocolates. I love it all! Well, I take that back, I'm not a fan of white chocolate, but I will eat it as shavings on a cake.
No candy for me... (I am not processing sugar very well.)
I snuck a bit of peanut butter cookie with chocolate chips the other day - I am losing my affinity for chocolate... But the peanut butter part was devine.
I used to love skittles & the like, but several years ago, I figured out that the fake fruit flavors gave me headaches.
Now I stick to peanut butter or mint candies. (Love the M&M mint flavor that is only out in December.)
If you have a "World Market" they carry non-American candies... (British, Japanese, etc.)
Oh I love it all too. I love chocolate covered nuts and cherries. Whenever I go west I stock up on candy( and all sorts of other fun things)at Cost Plus. I loveall the different flavors of mini ritter bars they have there. I have to watch myself with old school candies like abba zabba ,bit o honey, mary janes and tootsie rolls one is never enough. Right now I'm loving the chocolate covered sunflower seeds and Australian licorice they have at Trader Joe's(are you still boycotting them Barb?)
I would kill for a bag of candy corn.
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