Monday, August 06, 2012

Sweets for the Sweet

The topic this month at NaBloPoMo is "Sweets" and I think yesterdays peach cobbler fit that bill to a "T".  Today they ask, "what is the first candy you ever ate," but I may have been too young to remember the first one.  Here is a "sweet" memory I can remember.  Momma didn't really allow too much candy in the house,  the only sweets we had were what she made, from homemade cinnamon rolls, red velvet cake, homemade donuts, you know, a childhood of the fifties.  Now on the other side, my Daddy's family, candy, soda pop, cookies anything sweet that could be bought or made was there, all the time.  Friday nights when we had an bit of extra money Daddy would either take us to the store, or when it moved in across the street, we would walk.  We bought chocolate covered malted milk balls, chocolate covered raisins, ice cream and malted milk powder to make our own milkshakes.  It was heaven.  Now that I write this I believe the first candy would have to be the chocolate covered malted milk balls and raisins.

When we went to Grandma's house (Daddy's momma), there were always bowls and bowls and BOWLS of candy just sitting around.  Coffee candy, candy corn, suckers, candy bars, every kind of candy imaginable.  In one of her cabinets there were liters of Pepsi, Root Beer, Dr. Pepper, Orange Crush and Strawberry Crush and there was ALWAYS vanilla ice cream in the freezer, gallons of the stuff, for floats.  When B was little and we went over there to visit it was all I could do to keep Grandma from giving her candy.  I didn't allow her to eat candy for a very long time and Grandma just didn't understand.  It was a tough visit.  Grandma had a horrible sweet tooth and her purse always had candy in it, Juicy Fruit or Double Mint gum being the main thing.  Those gum smells take me back to sitting in church and rummaging through her purse for a stick of gum.  When she died they found bags of candy bars hidden in her closets and dresser drawers.  (Grandpa was a diabetic, FYI.)

Daddy used to work in the movie theater and the kinds of candy bars he exposed us to were Cherry Mash (with a real cherry center), Zero bars, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, Heath bars, etc.  Three Musketeer and Milky Way bars were also a memory from the other side of the family.  Great-granddaddy always had those two candy bars in his dresser drawer and there were a ton of kids hanging around in the afternoon, bored.  Greatgranny would sneak into his dresser while he was napping and grab one candy bar.  She would cut that candy bar into bite size pieces, how ever many kids were there would get a bite.  If there were three then three, but if there were twelve there would be twelve bites and we were satisfied.

2 comments:

Winnie said...

I enjoyed reading this. I agree that the smell of candy can bring to mind people. My late aunt used to keep those large Canda mints in her pocket and when I see or smell them she comes to mind. My late hubby loved orbit gum, and that always makes me smile.

Beryl said...

Until moving to Tulsa, I had never heard of a Cherry Mash bar. I can't believe something that good isn't sold all over. If we move, I will have to get them mailed to me - one at a time, since I can eat 5 at once. I used to get them at Hobby Lobby and didn't understand why they have been out of them most of the Summer. Well, it turns out that Hobby Lobby trucks aren't air conditioned, and they won't be delivering anymore to my store until the weather gets colder. (October, I guess.)