Story Weekend Theme: Candy
What pops into your mind when you think of candy? What little snippet from your life can you share? It’s probably obvious that my sweet tooth is hungry!
If you’re new to Story Weekend, here’s how it works: I pick a theme and you share something from your life that relates to that theme. Thanks to all of you who’ve been contributing. I’ve loved reading your (very short!) stories. As always, there are a few “rules”:
- The story must be true.
- Try to keep it under 100 words. That’s about six or seven lines in the comment form. I want others to read your story, and most people tend to skip if it’s too long. I know how tough it is to “write tight” but I hope you’ll accept this as a challenge.
- Avoid offensive language.
As usual, I’ll kick it off with my own comment and then I hope you’ll join in the fun.
My parents were bright, educated, and big readers. Yet when it came to nutrition they were, well, dumb. My dad would come home from work, toss a few candy bars on my bed and say “Don’t eat them all before dinner.” And in the summer, the rule was “You may only have two Good Humor treats per day.” No wonder our dentist lived in a mansion!
This is a snippet from a story I’m writing:
“What about Carmel? That sounds even better, like candy. Or Carmel-by-the-Sea – that’s its real name – that sounds like someplace where people lead perfect lives in picturesque little cottages.”
We used to love, as children, for my dad to run to the grocery store. It never failed that he would come home with some kind of yummy candy. Our favorite were Look bars which he would put into the freezer for a while and then we’d take them out and smack them on the counter into tiny pieces. Needless to say, my mom didn’t like sending him often.
Mother made candy only at Christmas. There are a number of names for the fudge she made, but in the forties and fifties it was “Millionaire Fudge.” No candy thermometers, no gritty sugary taste – I don’t remember all of the ingredients but the secret was a jar of marshmallow creme. Over the years I have tried to make it but it just isn’t the same. I still love chocolate candy but stick to the dark kind because that’s healthy, right?
Wow, Maureen, I had to Google that! There are about a million recipes for millionaire fudge and they all sound delicious. Sorry for the long URL.
http://www.google.com/#sclient=psy&hl=en&source=hp&q=millionaire+fudge+marshmallow+creme&aq=4v&aqi=g2g-v3&aql=&oq=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&fp=73d0458417bba60e&biw=1431&bih=859
Thanks for the Diane. I’m still trying to track down a copy of the “original” recipe. Perhaps it’s as simple as reading the label on a jar of marshmallow creme.
Oops – sorry I failed to proof my message. It should have read thanks for the link.
I have a wonderful recipe made with marshmallow cream. Nice and creamy, makes great Xmas gifts. Email if you want it. I won a blue ribbon at the fair from this my own recipe.
mzglorybe@msn.com
The word “candy” reminds me of all the Saturdays I spent in the movie theatre when I was young. You didn’t have to buy the gigantic boxes they want to sell you today, but for $.05 you could buy a box of your favorites from the candy machine. Juicy fruit candy and Mounds bars were my favorite. You would have to peel the Juicy fruits from your teeth but I didn’t care, I loved them. Today it means fudge from the Jersey shore. Copper Kettle…no longer in operation ..was my favorite. It was quickly replaced by the Fudge Kitchen. Now I order it …they have an 800 #. Yippee.
Some people love chocolate and while I do love chocolate, my favorite candy is not. I am a Candy Corn freak. I love the regular candy corn, and also the little pumpkins. When we were kids, my great grandparents always gave out the little pumpkins at Halloween. I don’t know if my love for them is because they are pure sugar, or if it is the memories that come with them. Either way, these are my favorite… During the summer I always lose my Winter weight…and I am so proud…then they put out the Candy Corn. Before you know it, I gain 5 lbs before Halloween, and that leads us right into Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners and baking. This week, at Walgreens, they put out The Candy. I bought a small bag and yes it is all gone.
Me too! and if you mix candy-corn evenly with salted peanuts in a big bowl or see-through container (our is pumpkin shaped) – the combo tastes like a PayDay candy bar.
Candy reminds me of Halloween. When my brother and I were little, we would come home from trick-or-treating and dump our candy in the middle of the floor. We would watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and sort our haul. I preferred the chocolate, Mike liked the fruity candies and we gave Baby Ruth, Mounds and York Peppermint Patties to Mom. I miss those times.
We had an ‘Egg Man’ when I was a child that we nick named Horgie. He wore a salt and pepper cap, had skin the texture of tissue paper and weighed only enough that a good wind didn’t blow him away. He must have been eighty in the shade and he had the comforting smell of a barn about him. Every week he brought two dozen eggs to our flat costing 50 cents each . Also in the pocket of his flannel shirt, just the rim of two bags of humbugs would stick out enticingly. He brought them every week at a cost of 20 cent each to him and left them for us to linger over. Nothing tasted as good. He made no money off of us that’s for sure but for a cuppa and the gift of company, we all had something to sweeten our days. Except for the day my brother shoved one of those humbugs up his nose and we spent six hours in Emergency department..lol
Diane’s little brother here.
Almost every year we would go to Atlantic City for the teacher’s convention (in the Fall…brr, chilly!) and the highlight for me was boxes of dark chocolate molasses paddles. http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Overview/518/fralingers
I haven’t had one in at least thirty years, probably forty, but I can still taste them. Especially fresh out of the freezer!
oh, yeah, Rob, they were soooo good!
I used to live with my aunt and uncle in India. Every day my uncle would go to work around 9 am, after breakfast together and would ask me what I wanted him to bring home. The answer was always the same – Gems. They’re M&M type candies but made and only sold in India, that I know about. To this day, 25 years later, I still get them every time I go to India. They taste exactly as good as they did when I was little.
Do I dare tell my secret that has lasted a lifetime? The clock strikes midnight & I’m up and at ’em sitting in my favorite chair with chocolate candy and a book…noone else is awake and I’m literally ‘at one’ with peanut clusters and a good novel. As far back as age 14, 7 days a week…I like to think it gives me my energy fix for Yoga/Exercise practice which begins at 4 a.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. weekends. Makes sense to me!
Margo, when (and how!!) do you sleep??
this is becoming my favorite part of the weekend. thanks diane. I would visit my aunt and uncle in the summer and we were always allowed to walk to the corner store and buy 10 cents worth of candy. mojos, pixisticks, licamore and thrill gum (yuck now). We were young and to do this in the big city was a treat. Also in my family’s houses we all have candy jars in the front room. I don’t fill mine as I would eat them but at mom’s there is always toffee, licorice allsorts or small hard italian candies. A treat – everyone helps themself discretely.
My grandmother kept my favorite candy in the Oriental hutch that was in her apartment. It was made at Grunings in South Orange, NJ. The candies were coconut balls, covered with pink or white icing. MMMmmmn. They were good! Grunings had 8 stores in New Jersey at its peak. Their homemade ice cream and candies were the best! I just looked them up on-line and there was a picture of the restaurant and ice cream shop. My friends and I went for lunch there after skating, and were taken there by our parents after every school recital or concert
Diane, during the week I go to bed early since I’m at work usually by 5:30 or 6 a.m.
Weekends I stay up late but I usually sleep in on Sat & Sun…I really do get my rest, even tho it doesnt sound like it…what wakes me up at midnite, I have no idea…its been a habit since I was at least 14 years of age…always eat chocolates at midnite and read my book…still do it to this day…I go back to bed around 1 a.m. and sleep till its time to get up. (=O:
My little sister and I used to set the alarm clock for midnight on Halloween and eat our pillow cases full of candy. We did this for years and years. No wonder I have such lousy teeth to this day. LOL But it was fun at 8 and 9 years old and it was always something we giggled about “getting over” on mommy. LOL I don’t think she ever found out our little secret. Unfortunately she is long gone now so I can’t even ask her … I will have to mention it to my sister though next time I speak to her and see if she remembers. We shared a bedroom back then … ahhhh … the good old days 🙂