Life Savers Lime Punch

During one of the sweltering days last week, I took the Sugar Baby to the Garbage Museum. It's a funky little place where you can see the whole garbage/recycling process and they have all sorts of art made from trash. This tower was made out of soda cans, and I was surprised to see the Life Savers Lime Punch soda. I don't think I remember ever seeing this. I do, however, remember the Tahitian Treat quite fondly. The Baroness and I used to ride our bikes down to Cumberland Farms and buy cans of the carbonated fruit punch. Ah, those were the days.

Halloween, Phase II: Downtown Trick-or-Treat

I've forgotten how exhausting trick-or-treating can be. Today was the downtown trick-or-treat where all the local stores and politicians hand out candy to the kids and coupons to the parents. Basically about five million people descend upon the town all at the same time, so there's a crush of crowds and everyone is all hot and sweaty in their costumes and tired kids are screaming and teenagers are pushing their way through ... yeah, good times. Fortunately we got there early enough to do some power trick-or-treating before things got too crazy.
The very first piece of candy the Sugar Baby picked out was a miniature Tootsie Roll. Uh oh. I'd forgotten to have "the talk" with him. You know, the talk where I explain that you always go for the Reese's and Snickers over the Tootsie Rolls and lollipops. He did better on the second try when he got-- of course!-- a bag of Sugar Babies.
He seemed to be attracted to the silvery wrappers of 3 Musketeers, and when the offering was Dum Dums, he poked around until he found the rootbeer ones.
On the way home, he fell asleep in the car, clutching his bag o' goodies. I think it weighed more than he does.
After dinner tonight, I told him he could pick out one piece to eat. What did he pick? Go ahead, take a guess. Swedish Fish? Nope. Milky Way? No. Tootsie Roll? No. Out of all the candy-- sooo much candy-- he chose a peppermint LifeSaver. A single, solitary LifeSaver. I can't even pretend to understand.

Lamar Odom and No-Nuts: Candy Soulmates?

They say there's no such thing as coincidence, so what, dear Yumsters, does this mean?

The Ice Cube Queen sent me an article from some Florida newspaper about Lamar Odom's favorite candy. (In case you don't know--because I certainly didn't--he's a player for the Lakers.) Apparently he's a candy fiend and he's quoted as saying, "It's funny because the games I played well were the games where I ate candy for breakfast." Nice!

But here's the thing: his favorite candies are listed as Twizzlers, Gummi Bears, Hershey's Cookies & Cream, Life Savers and-- as he called them, "Peachy sugar-coated rings," (otherwise known as Peach O's). So, onto the freaky part:

Madame Yum Yum: "Hey No-Nuts, what's your favorite candy bar?"

No-Nuts: "Cookies & Cream."

MYY: "What's your favorite candy?"

No-Nuts: "Peach O's. Or Gummi Bears. And I like Twizzlers, too."

Dun-Dun-Dah! What could this mean? Does this mean that No-Nuts is really meant to be a professional basketball player? Or does it mean that Lamar Odom would make a successful college student majoring in math? What do you think?

Cherry Lemonade Life Savers and Good & Fruity: eh.

I've been wanting to try the newly-released Good & Fruity ever since it was released, well, a while ago. It didn't get the greatest feedback, so I kept putting it off. But with an impending road trip, it seemed like a good choice.
Then I also spied these Cherry Lemonade Life Savers (and Strawberry Kiwi, too) and thought, hmmm, that sounds good!
What can I say? Both were just eh.
The G&F definitely were not like the classic G&F of my childhood. I remember being able to bite off the sugary shell to expose the chewy center; you couldn't do that with these.
As for the Life Savers, they reminded me of something but I just couldn't place it. Finally, in the middle of the night, it came to me: they taste like Pez. They have a fruity flavor but that same crunchy, not-quite-chalky texture. In the end, my candy choices were not an appropriate road trip food. The box of frosted shredded wheat, however, turned out to be a success, as did the Tupperware container of grapes. Go figure.

Listen Up, LifeSavers Product Developers!

No-Nuts and I had a bonding experience last night. One we would've rather not had, but the evil hellishness of it all is over and now we can laugh about it. Or not. We went to the airport last night to pick up the Ice Cube Queen who was flying in for a visit. We left the house at 7 p.m. and made a stop at IKEA where, as we were perusing the Ektorp and Popoli and Hammerschobuntubin furniture, we got a call saying the flight was delayed. Fine. So we drove home, watched an episode of Buffy, and then left the house at 10:30, driving through blinding rain and lightning, arriving at the airport at 11:30 p.m. It was then that we found out that the flight was diverted to Rhode Island and would be arriving ... when?? No one had any idea. We had no choice but to park in the Dunkin' Donuts parking lot and wait out the evening. We passed the first hour by playing 20 questions ("Is it a donut?" No. "Is it a new Southwest Chicken Flatbread?" No. Forget it. Stupid game), and then quickly succumbed to watching the rain pour down in waterfalls on the windshield. No-Nuts drifted off to sleep, and I went into some faraway La-La-Land where, as thoughts swirled around in my head, I had the most ingenious revelation: they should make a roll of all-citrus LifeSavers. Check it out: tangerine, pineapple, Key lime and grapefruit. I would totally dig that. So what do you think, LifeSavers people?

Eventually the plane landed and we got home at 4:30 a.m.-- just long enough to take a cat nap before the Sugar Baby's 6 a.m. internal alarm clock went off. But the evening wasn't a total bust. The Ice Cube Queen had plenty of candy leftover from the flight-- gummy worms, a chocolate alligator and yes, a bag of Circus Peanuts.

The Party's Over (well, it isn't really. It's only 8 o'clock.)

Ah, what a bittersweet evening. Tonight we celebrated the high school graduation of the Sugar Baby's babysitter, the fabulous Miss Lucy. As I write this, the festivities are still going strong next door-- all those lucky teenagers with a clean slate and strong bodies that can withstand the pressures of finals, bad cafeteria food and hangovers to rival e.coli the excitement of impending adulthood.

Since we're still fairly new to the neighborhood, we didn't really know anyone, so I was on my best behavior, talking about all the socially acceptable things like motherhood ("Oh ho, yes, the terrible twos! Hahaha!") and gardening ("The tomatoes are doing exceptionally well this year, but the zucchini seems to be struggling.") But then suddenly, across the yard, I heard someone shout my name. I walked over to this stranger who assaulted me with my favorite question: "You have a candy blog?!"

All sense of decorum went out the window as we launched into a discussion of all things sweet. She's a junior high English teacher and, as one of her assignments, has her students write about the pros and cons, similarities and differences of snack foods. Oh yes, indeedy, this was a kindred spirit.

Her first question to me was, "Do you know BB Bats?"

Now, dear reader, how did you read that? Did you read it as "Bee Bee Bats" or, as she pronounced it, "Buh-Buh-Bats"? Because I was taken aback. I'd never heard them called that before! Naturally I came home and immediately did some research. Turns out the "BB" stands for "Bigger and Better" and they were first released in 1924. In case you're not familiar, these are taffy lollipops, shaped flat to resemble some sort of bat, and come in chocolate, banana, strawberry and peanut butter/molasses. They're wrapped in a waxy paper that, no matter how hard you try, always ends up sticking to the pop and the taffy is so chewy it comes perilously close to ripping out your dental work. We agreed that chocolate was the best flavor, followed by banana. The popular cousin to BB Bats are Kits, which are little squares of the same taffy, stacked up in a small brick.

I swear, I didn't even encourage her to reveal her passion for candy. She wore her sugary love on her sleeve. She asked about Ice Cubes, as many other readers have. What's the deal? she wanted to know. Why do they suck now when they used to be so smooth and melty before? (The cheaper crap oil they use now, I explained.) And what about Mary Janes? What happened to the peanut butter center? (I've never been much for Mary Jane's, but I think I do recall what she was talking about.)

"Life Savers!" she said. "Why don't they offer a roll of all tangerine?" The tropical mix is okay-- the melon is pretty tasty, but the coconut and banana are pretty icky, she said. I completely agree.

Wax Lips! Is there any nutritional value at all to them or are they merely an accessory? And candy buttons! You were either the type that spit out the paper or just chewed it and swallowed it.

It was a fabulous discussion, one that could go on and on. Unfortunately, by this time, the Sugar Baby was standing at the door saying "Bye Bye Lucy!" and so, my few moments of sweet discussion came to an end.

But remember this, dear reader: the next time you go to a party, bring up the topic of candy. It's something everyone has an opinion about and you might just learn something wickedly sassy and gossipy about your neighbors and their friends. (I mean, I didn't. But you might.)

Random stuff

A big Hershey's Hug to Sera for pointing out an interesting fact about 3 Musketeers: the bar is called that because originally it was three pieces with three different fillings, vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Now that sounds intriguing. Why don't they bring that back?
Some other miscellaneous stuff:
I tried the Dolly Mix from my big stash o' British candy. I can't wait to tell you about it. Exciting stuff!
Last night we watched a DVD of Mitch Hedberg, the comedian who died way too young. Anyhow, he had a couple of good candy comments, like:
"I can't wait for this set to be over because I have a roll of LifeSavers in my pocket and pineapple is the next flavor."
AND
"I like Kit Kats, as long as I'm not with four or more people."

My Fave Non-Chocolate Candy:
1) Gummi Bears: must be Haribou, no other brand. The clear and green ones are the best. The red and orange are acceptable. When I worked at Munson's, we used to put a gummi bear in a cup of water overnight and the next day it would be all plump and expanded.
2) Swedish fish: Must be original Swedish Fish brand and only the red ones. Green, yellow and orange are gross.
3) Sour Patch Kids: (and basically any other sour candy of the type.) These are made sour by a coating of pure citric acid in crystallized form. Pucker up!
4) Jelly Belly Sours: everyone's favorite jelly bean, but in the sour flavors. Don't much care for regular JB's.
5) Fireballs. When I'm feeling hot, hot, hot!
6) Charm's Blo-Pops. Love these, except they always cut up the roof of my mouth so I don't have them too often. I like the traditional red and grape.
7) Wint-o-Green Lifesavers. Mmmm. Can't stop eating these once I have one. Plus, they have the added bonus of sparking in a dark room when you hit them together.
8) Sweettarts. Again, the sour element.
9) Zotz. Haven't had these in YEARS but they're awesome. A fizzy explosion of acidic foam. Mmm.