Topix Questions 33: As A Child What Were Your Favorite Candies? & 34: What Food Reminds You Of Home? Why?

 

Question 33/424:  As a child, what were your favorite candies?

I have always been a foodie and food motivated. I know that’s a term usually meant to describe animals but it’s the truth.  I was also the youngest of three, meaning that if we were trading for the good stuff, my siblings usually took the best and I was left with everything else, which didn’t really bother me because I eat pretty much anything.

I was always a chocolate person, so was my sister.  My brother was more into the fruit variety candies.  I remember thinking as a kid that I wished I liked the fruity candies better because they were healthier – I don’t know where I got that idea but it’s what I believed for a long time.  My sister and I would often bicker over Reece’s in all forms because chocolate and peanut butter are obviously the perfect combination.

My mom introduced me to other candies I loved, too.  I remember the first time I tried peanut butter M&M’s.  I became obsessed with them.  At the time they weren’t always available, so finding them at the store was like an extra special treat.  Once, we were at a Fairway or some other corner store that’s fallen out of popularity and she introduced me to the Chunky Bar.  A Chunky Bar is an old school decadent milk chocolate square filled with peanuts and raisins.  This is another harder to find candy so whenever I stumbled upon one, I had to get it because of how good it was.

When I got a little older, I remember seeing the commercial for the Take 5 candy bar and I was bound and determined to find it.  Pretzels, peanut butter, peanuts, and caramel covered in chocolate – it’s like four of my favorite things (pretzels, peanut butter, peanuts, and chocolate – I’m not really a caramel girl).  I did love the Take 5 candy bar when it originally came out, but I feel like they’ve changed the recipe and it just doesn’t taste the same or as good as it did when it first came out in 2004.

To be perfectly honest, however, I was much less of a candy kid and more of a cookie and snack cake kid.  Snack cakes were a staple in my household, at least for my dad, and we kids were usually allowed to pick out one box to last us the month when my mom restocked my dad’s stash.  I also have memories of being a little kid sitting next to my dad while he ate Ho-Ho’s or Swiss Cake Rolls.  We’d peel the frosting off the cake and eat that separately and then go into the eating the cake roll.  My dad also loved Peanut Butter Cups.  I think my mom would buy the big bags of the Wal-Mart brand which I remember thinking were way better than Reece’s anyhow, a better ratio perhaps.  I feel like the peanut butter cups in Moose Tracks Ice Cream are the closest comparison to the peanut butter cups my dad would eat as a kid because the Wal-Mart brand ones and Reece’s just don’t hit the same memory receptors in my brain.

Basically, when it comes to candy, if there is any combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and nuts, I’m happy.  If I had to say what my favorite candy is as an adult, I’d probably say just a straight up Hershey’s Bar with almonds.  Also, there’s a Reece’s Candy Bar called Crispy Crunchy which is also very good but much more difficult to find.

 

Question 34/424:  What food reminds you of home?  Why?

There are a handful of recipes and meals that always make me think of my childhood.  Probably because they were made so often when I was growing up.

In my household, taco night wasn’t what most people would probably consider taco night.  For one, my mom was the only one who used actual hard taco shells.  The rest of us would all use burrito sized flour tortillas.  Also, tacos were really burritos.  A good quality taco night consisted of the following choices – ground beef seasoned without taco seasoning because my mom can’t have cumin, refried beans, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and sour cream.  Usually, my dad would be in charge of taco night, although us kids and my mom would usually end up helping with the produce while my dad browned the burger.  My dad could make two meals:  tacos and spaghetti with hamburger meat.  When dad was cooking, we knew we were getting one or the other.

My mother was the one who usually cooked.  One of the simpler recipes she would make is, I guess you’d call it a hash although we just called it burger and potatoes.  You literally just cube up potatoes and cook them up in a skillet with hamburger meat, season to taste, and top with ketchup when done.  You can also do this with kielbasa, but obviously hamburger meat is cheaper.  Also, pot roast always reminds me of my mom.  We were a busy family always working on multiple projects at one time so having a slow cooker going all day was a common occurrence.  When I was older, there were a few times when my mom would have a slow cooker going with pot roast, onions, carrots, and potatoes but the roast would be ready before the vegetables and she and I would sneak a little bit of the roast before dinnertime.  My mom also taught my first high school boyfriend how to make Sandwich Spread, which is when you take bologna, chopped pickles, and mayo and put all of that into a food processor and blend it up and spread it on bread to make a sandwich.  Even years after he and I broke up he would tell me he remembered learning that and wished he could have my mom make it for him again.  My mom also would always make cookies, usually from a powder packet, but she would add walnuts.  I don’t often add walnuts to my chocolate chip cookies, but if I do, they make me think of my mom.  My mom also makes wonderful BBQ ribs.  She says the trick is to soak them in the BBQ sauce over night before doing any cooking, it helps them stay juicy even when grilling  .My mom also makes the perfect potato salad.  It’s taken me a few years, but I think I finally figured out the trick; use dill pickles and not sweet or bread and butter.  Also, instead of using straight vinegar, if you need more liquid, just use the juice from the dill pickle jar.  And you must include hard boiled eggs.  The potato salad has officially become the dish I bring to pass at most of our family gatherings so it’s pretty much a staple. Also when making deviled eggs, you can use a little pickle juice to jazz those up, too without changing too much of the recipe.  

My grandma is usually the host for the holidays, so I have a couple of meals that remind me of her as well.  The first thing that comes to mind is cheeseball.  My grandmother’s recipe for a cheese ball is to get Merkt’s Spreadable Cheese and mix that with cream cheese to make the innards of the cheese ball (season to taste), you can add shredded cheese in there too.  Then food processor up some walnuts and roll your cheese ball in that.  Use saran wrap to mold the ball into the perfect shape and place onto the dinner table for serving.  Also, goulash reminds me of my grandma.  There was one fall when my family had to replace the roof of our house.  My grandma and I were inside responsible for making a hot meal for when everyone got done on the roof.  She made a gigantic vat of goulash with so much cheese each spoonful had beautiful cheese pull on it.  She used block cheese that she shredded and rough cut so sometimes you’d get a spoonful of mostly cheese and it was glorious.  I’ve never managed to recreate her goulash but I always think of her when I try.

So those are some of the foods, meals and recipes that make me think of home and my family.