Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Sweet As Candy


So it seems that candy companies are relatively recession-proof. In fact, during the Depression, those who specialized in bonbons were extremely prosperous. The early 1930s saw the birth of some of my childhood favorites: Snickers, Tootsie Pops, Mars bars and Three Musketeers. The term "childhood favorites" implies that as an adult I no longer care for these sweet confections; that would be a lie. At 45, I am still a candy lover, a candy afficionado and a closet candy addict. Ok, maybe not so much a closet candy eater as I devour candy out in the open as well.

I have a designated candy drawer in my kitchen that is usually well stocked. When my daughter (who seems to have inherited my sweet tooth) opens it, I often hear her whine, "Ooooh Mom?! Are you kidding me? What happened to the licorice? There was a FULL bag in here yesterday." Yeah, well, sorry sweetness, that was yesterday. And technically, it's my drawer.

Back when I had a full time job, my British boss introduced me to the Cadbury Crunchie. Holy chocolate bar, Batman. The caliber of the Cadbury milk chocolate is second to none and the golden honeycomb center is simply to die for...but the candy bar is only available in England. (which is probably a good thing). A few weeks ago my husband went to England for a job interview and I told him not to return without the Crunchies. A job offer would be nice, but a Crunchie would be nicer, and a couple of Crunchies would be nicest. (There are three in my candy drawer as I type...but there is no guarantee that they will be there tomorrow.) And while I have grown to appreciate a piece of dark chocolate with a nice glass of red wine, I must confess that I get just as much satisfaction from kid candy: Skittles, Sour Worms, Nerds, Fun Dips, Starbursts...I'm telling you, I've never met a candy that I didn't appreciate.

As a result of my sweet tooth, I am no stranger to the dentist chair. Truth be told, I don't think I have a single tooth that hasn't been drilled, refilled, capped or crowned (but they are relatively white, so that counts for something, right?) I've had several root canals and cracked a few teeth (but never wore braces, so that counts for something, right?). My last visit to the dentist was a result of raiding my son's Halloween candy (that I promised I wouldn't touch). The Tootsie Roll that I clamped down on tasted delicious, but it apparently grabbed hold of one of my caps and ripped the sucker off. Luckily, I didn't swallow the golden tooth and my dentist was able to glue it back in place. But if you think I've sworn off Tootsie Rolls as a result, you would be sadly mistaken.

They say candy is an affordable escape. I don't need the likes of Lindt or Ghirardelli, I'm fine with a pack of Sour Patch Kids. We've cut out a lot of things since my husband was laid off, but I will never give up my candy. And apparently I am not alone....

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I too am a candy freak...always have been, always will be. To me there is nothing more comforting in the world than a big bag of Swedish fish!
Eat on, my friend!

L. said...

Love me some Swedish Fish. Do you remember the Marathon Bar? Now that was a candy bar. How about a Mary Jane? Does it get much better? Babe Ruth? Jolly Ranchers? Red Hot Atomic Fireballs?

Anonymous said...

I enjoy a Good & Plenty or a Mike n Ike, but never got a taste for the gummies of any kind, nor the powdered sugar candies.

Give me Mounds or Snickers, or a BABE RUTH, yum, I'm a happy camper. Jessie Eleazar always had a Watchamacallit in her lunch at Eric S. Smith. It looked so delicious--I was always very jealous.
S.

Anonymous said...

I'm a sweet tart girl myself but Smarties put me over the moon! As far as fancy chocolate goes, there is nothing better than a turtle with its gooey caramel and pecans. You go girl. Candy is definitely not just for kids.

Anonymous said...

You've just brought me right back to Rosie's candy shop... where you had to wait in line to be invited in to shop for your candy... two at a time. Remember those long stalks of bubble gum in every flavor? I think they were 10 cents. Regular, cherry, sour apple (a personal favorite), grape, fire... it hurts my teeth just to think about them. And the Watchamacallit! I could never eat one because of my nut allergy but I will never forget when you, Laurie, first tried to pronounce it... do you remember? To this day, I still pronounce it "your way", even when I'm not referring to the candy. Clippity clop...

L. said...

Holy mother of pearl! ROSIE!!! YES! That was her name!!! She is responsible for feeding my sweet tooth. I was trying to remember her name and the name for those long stalks of gum when I was typing this post! I guess there isn't a name, per se, just....long stalks of gum. I bet one stalk was the equivalent to one cavity. Remember walking to CCD and stopping there to fill up on sweets first??? I STILL pronounce Watchamcacallit like I did that day in the candy store, too!! Hysterical. What was Rosie's sister's name? That was the coolest store. I think she had a sister store on Walton's mountain, no?

Anonymous said...

I don't remember the sister's name... I don't think she had any legs, as she was always made to hide behind the counter, collecting our handsful of change. The gum DID have a name... now let me think. Oh, here it is... Bubs Daddy. Yep, that's it. I wonder if any of those nostaglia places still carry it. You could blow the best bubbles with that stuff, with wads of it packed in your cheeks. Oh man, remember how nice and pliable it was? Just bend off a piece and share it with a friend... or someone pretending to be your friend just to get a hunk. I still try to tell people at work about our pre-CCD jaunts but they just look at me with blank stares as Rosie's is now a vacant restaurant. And CCD is now held in the evening... NO ONE walks there. PS ~ I wish I had a Marathon for breakfast...

Anonymous said...

Yep, Rosie was cool! Made kids add up their own purchases, bolstering math scores of all the Ramsey youth who are now failing glucose testing-ha.Memba her big competition, Herb & Charlie? Long live memories of the candy pushers, sweet stuff here on your cool blog. I'm off to go find a bag of Razzles now.