(no subject)

[phosfate]

Got Candyfreak from the library yesterday. It's like porn. Except, y'know, good.

"Do you want to see how we make the chocolate bunnies?" Oh YES! For God's sake, say YES!

The author remembers the Caravelle, the greatest American candy bar of the 20th Century. Think of a $100 Grand, but with better chocolate and rice, and that dark caramel that nobody seems to make anymore. Caravelle made my ass what it is today, and I am not in the least sorry.

Comments

[zeelee-penguin.livejournal.com]

I *desperately* want to read Candyfreak. I wish I had time to read books not-for-school these days.

[snacky]

DO EEET!

I stand on street corners, proselytizing about this book.

[zeelee-penguin.livejournal.com]

I *want* to. But seeing as I'm about 120 pages behind on the reading in *both* my english classes (WHY DID I SIGN UP FOR TWO DEAR GOD WHY?!), the prospects don't look good. :(

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I feel your pain. I took four one semester.

It went okay until Little Dorrit. *cries*

[zeelee-penguin.livejournal.com]

My problem was that I didn't take into account one of my english teachers forcing us to read Little Women, which I can only read for ten minute intervals, because after that length of time my eyes roll back into my head and my teeth start rotting from all the smarm.

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I loved Caravelle bars. You're right -- a hundred times better than the $100,000 bar.

[jeff-morris.livejournal.com]

Try "The Emperors of Chocolate" by Joel Glenn Brenner. It's mostly a history of the Mars family, but gets into the Hershey dynasty as well.

The front and back covers alone will make you gain ten pounds.

JSM

[hawkmoth.livejournal.com]

I remember the name, but can't recall if I ever actually had a Caravelle bar.

The bastards at Cadbury have replaced the Wispa with something called a Bubbly, which is thinner, less dense, and not nearly as yummy.

[snacky]

THANK YOU JESUS! I HAVE BEEN PIMPING THIS BOOK FOR MONTHS AND FINALLY MS. LARIMER SEES THE LIGHT!

Have you got to the part where he visits the first chocolate factory yet? I hurt something, I laughed so hard.

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

You were completly right.

Yes. That's the part where somebody asks if he wants to see how they make the bunnies.

[ramalama.livejournal.com]

omg Caravelle! SEND ME SOME NOW, HOR!

Yea! Candyfreak!

[cannellfan.livejournal.com]

*smiles*

I just used that recently as one of my choices for a Library Bookchat episode of the radio talk show I'm on once a month here in town! Neat stuff, eh...

And they mention my all time favorite: The Marathon Bar, the only thing I ever shoplifted (more than once) from my local Ben Franklin store during my less-than-larcenous childhood!

Re: Yea! Candyfreak!

[annlarimer.livejournal.com]

I'm confused, though. I remember the Marathon as this square-cut thing of peanut brittle, re-introduced by Snickers a few months ago as an energy bar. To add to the confusion, for ages the regular Snickers was called the Marathon in the UK, where the thing Mr Almond describes as a Marathon was and is the Curly Wurly.

Meanwhile, Curly Wurlys rule.

I don't remember ever boosting candy. I did once lift a plastic animal from Family Drug, but the statute of limitations has expired, and Family Drug is gone. It was never worth the trouble - just as easy to pay retailers the damn dime. God, we're old.

Re: Marathon Bar

[cannellfan.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...don't remember the same Marathon that you do...though yours does sound tasty. I took a look at the Curly Wurly but it has only a vague resemblance to my Marathon memories. I recall the Marathon as being longer than 8" (the Uni Place Ben Franklin had to adjust the little glass candy shelf dividers to accomodate its unusual size), and the holes in the bar were much smaller. But I think I'm gonna have to order some Curly Wurlys to see how close they got on the taste factor.

Having read Candyfreak just before going on a trip to Kansas City, I tried to hit as many "odd candy" stores in KC as possible to get my "regional Candymakers" fix. The Better Cheddar in the Country Club Plaza had a lot of good selections, including a lot of UK imports -- managed to pick up a good-sized box of Jelly Babies. And the Candy Store in the basement of the Crown Center shopping complex had bins and bins full of "penny candy" (which, of course, now costs a nickle or more). Saw some Squirrel Nut Zippers at a gas station on the way back up to Lincoln. Hey, Ann, if you're on the lookout for some of the older candy bars that are back in production (like the Skybar), try the Cracker Barrel restaurant's gift shop.

Ah, good ol' Family Drug. :-) The only other thing I remember ever "lifting" from the Uni Ben Franklin was Wacky Packages -- sort of a "rite of passage" for those of us at Huntington Elementary in those days. And me, with my Mom actually teaching there at the time. I suppose I should feel worse than I do.

And, yes, we are old. *sniff*