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Who can know what lurks in the hearts of men?
Apparently, the Shadow can.
Sadly, he's not on speaking terms with me. Not since I pointed out to him that the weed of crime does not bear bitter fruit. That, in fact, it bears no fruit at all, as it's purely metaphorical and has no independently recognised horticultural validity.
Sadly, Lamont Cranston takes no subject more seriously than that of gardening and he left in a sulk.
And he took his wheelbarrow with him.
Fortunately, I'm not going to need him - nor his wheelbarrow - to tell me what lurks in my readers' hearts because, with any luck, they're about to tell me.
It can only mean one thing.
The jaw-dropping return of the feature in which our visitors get to reveal what's in their hearts.
And they do it in the comments section below.
Therefore, if you have something to get off your chest, be sure to make use of that facility. And I shall oversee subsequent events, from my eyrie on the 51st floor of a skyscraper that, officially, only has one storey.
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43 comments:
When my brother & myself, in childhood, visited my Auntie Alice, she always gave us a chocolate Neopolitan. Now, as an adult, my memory of her doesn't stretch much beyond that. Likewise, a few years later, my Uncle Harry, when we visited, gave us both a Prize bar. At Christmas, those old school choc X-mas stockings, made with 'netting', had a Mars, a Milky Way, and a Marathon, along with a packet of sweets (Minstrels, maybe?), plus a Topic bar – my least favourite! At the baths, my father once got me a Frys Chocolate Cream, out of the vending machine. Texans may have been my favourite chocolate bar, though!
In juniors, at one point, if we'd been 'good', we got 'Friday sweets' – a small allocation of change, to spend on penny sweets (candy), from the shop counter. Sherbet Fountains, Black Jacks, Mojos, Fruit Salad – all the usual types – but my favourite was the Toffee Dainty – a big toffee, enclosed in a tartan wrapper!
As well as Custard Creams, and Hob-nobs, a favourite non-choc biscuit, from my past, was the Coconut Cream!
Which chocolate bars, sweets (candy), and non-choc biscuits, evoke memories for you?
Phillip
Phillip- a very tasteful topic! Speaking as a member of the US contingent of SDC, may I observe the very colorful/descriptive names your treats are given! It reminds me of the Beatles' "White Album" track "Savoy Truffle". Makes me want to visit one of your sweet shops. And just what is a Sherbet Fountain? As for Black Jacks, I'm guessing its a licorice of some sort? Growing up 'over here' we could buy packs of chewing gum with the name "Black Jack"; which was a licorice-flavored stick . My Dad loved 'em...
As for my candy memories: numerous; here's a few:,
As a youngster, whenever we went to the grocery, my Mom would let us fill a bag with Brach's candies from the big display. Many different kinds were available, but my usual choices were "Chocolate Stars" (star-shaped chocolate), "Royals" (foil-wrapped caramels surrounding a fruit flavored cream), '"Fudgies" (small cubes of fudge), and the little individually-wrapped gumdrop bars whose name escapes me. Perhaps Charlie or b.t. might recall...
Later in high school, another candy figured prominently for me. My first class after lunch was US Government. We had open lunch hours, so I would stop by a convenience store each day and buy a roll of "Life Savers". I would take them to Government class, where the teacher was hooked on them. I'd give him several, and he would then look the other way as I spent the classtime drawing in my sketch book.
Finally, most everyone I knew in college was aware of my addiction to "Reese's Peanut Butter Cups". For one project in Photography class, a girl asked me to eat a bunch of them for her to photograph as a photo essay. She brought two bags of them to the shoot; I ate about one bag's worth. By the end of the evening I was so sick I couldn't look at another Reese Cup for six months...
Sorry, the above comment was me. Forgot to sign back in. Ooopsie....
Oh boy. Lots of memories of sweets and relatives!
My Hungarian grandma, who lived at 3919 Ivy Street in East Chicago IN, always (and only) had one quart of neopolitan ice cream, a box of Salerno Almond Crescent cookies (and one can of Pabst Blue Ribbon for my dad in the fridge).
The almond crescents were heavily coated in powder sugar which, when you bit into it, would create a thick layer of powder sugar on the roof of your mouth that would last for several minutes!
CH
Redartz - As regards the variety of UK confectionery, I've barely scratched the surface! A Sherbet Fountain was a paper tube, filled with sherbet, plus a liquorice stick, which you'd lick. Then, you'd dab the liquorice stick in the sherbet, which would stick to it - then you'd suck/lick the sherbet off the liquorice stick! Strangely, Black Jacks weren't liquorice, but they'd make your tongue turn black! Regarding lifesavers, we had fruit polos - which weren't that different!
Phillip
And, when overnight, my Hungarian grandmother would walk us to the corner store and we could each buy 1 Hostess treat. I usually got the apple pie, occasionally the Suzie Q! As you can imagine for a kid, it all about volume gentlemen… max volume!
CH
CHARLESTON CHEW was my standby in my teens. chocolate-flavored hydrogenated oil and corn syrup for only $.15. Best deal around for stuffing one’s gut! But, no finesse.
Red, what is US Government class?? We had nothing like that in my school!
By the way, a sherbet fountain is a tube of sherbet with a stick of liquorice in it.
Phillip, I bought a pack of 3 Fry's Chocolate Cream only yesterday! Did you know that Chocolate Cream was the world's first chocolate bar, launched in 1866?
Charlie - Neopolitan ice cream used to be a thing over here too, in the 70s. I wonder whatever happened to it? Its contrasting blocks of colour certainly got your attention, as a kid!
Phillip
Colin - Fry's was a favourite of mine - I'll have to keep my eyes open, if they're still selling it!
Phillip
I also bought a pack of 3 Fry's Turkish Delight and a bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk - I don't buy chocolate very often but I decided to get some for the upcoming bank holiday weekend.
Colin - I've never been that keen on Turkish Delight. When my brother was 8, our old teacher (Miss Hood) asked our class if anyone knew what Turkish Delight had inside it. My brother, sniggering, cheekily replied: "It's full of eastern promise!" - and got in trouble!
Going off at a tangent, with 1980s railway journeys, train station platform vending machines had stacks of compact Crunch bars in them! To me, they were mysterious, and intriguing. Only as an adult did I learn of their rice crispy filling!
Phillip
Colin- US Government class was a state requirement for graduation, usually taken during your senior year. The class was a survey of the history and function of US government: the various branches, powers, responsibilities and duties thereof. It covered the Constitution, voting, etc.; basically the nuts and bolts of government and governing. Given the current state of our country, I'm guessing that there were too many students who didn't pay enough attention...
My 10th birthday, when I got the first Marvel Superheroes Monthly, is also associated in my memory with both mint and orange Aero bars! I think I've bored everyone with that before! And what about tubes of sweets? Old English flavour Spangles, spring to mind - also Blobs, and Double Agents!
Phillip
Colin- oh, and in case you were wondering, my drawing didn't affect my studies; I aced the class...
Phillip and Colin- thanks for the info on the sherbet fountain! Sounds sort of like a candy concoction we had over here called "Lik-M-Aid": it was a pouch of powerded candy, fruit flavored, and it included a stick made of hard sugar. You licked the stick and dipped it into the powder and then licked again, getting a blast of sweet/sour goodness...
Oh, Redartz - regarding "Fudgies", over here we had a Fudge bar, with a famous theme-song, penned by the lead singer of Manfred Mann:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nC9BBLSZZdQ
Phillip
Sorry Phillip, but there's too much happening to think about chocolate.
Man City are a goal down as I write - if they lose, Arsenal are champions!
More importantly, Spurs are hopefully about to lose. Surely everyone is hoping they get relegated, rather than West Ham?I
-sean
My felicitations, Sean - I hope your nerves survive it. Best of luck to your gunners!
Phillip
Spurs are a goal down, Phillip!
-sean
Any sweet shop nostalgia conversation eventually gets around to how wagon wheels (link for Charlie https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wagon_Wheels) seem to get smaller every year.
But let me tell you something. There's a life turning point somewhere around 60 after which wagon wheels seem to get bigger every year. You know you're old when that happens.
Oh, good shout on the blobs Phillip. Boiled sweets with something in the middle with a different texture. I remember the toffee apple flavour with chewy centres and strawberry and cream flavour with a weird foamy/creamy/sugary/fondant centre.
Current chocolate of choice for me is a crunchie because after extensive research I've concluded that Jura and crunchie is the best whisky/chocolate combination.
The champagne bar, dangermash - it's like mixing grain & grape!
Phillip
Phillip- Great call on Aero bars! They are wonderful! They used to be available here many years ago, but no longer. However, there is a store in our area called "World Market" that stocks a wide range of imported food items. They do carry Aero bars, a fact I was thrilled to discover...
West Ham could sign Dez Skinn, Frank Ro**ins, Gemma Collins, Stephen Mulherne and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and I'd still be happy for them to stay up if it meant Spurs were relegated.
Oh, good shout. I'd forgotten the champagne bar marketing angle. Grain and grape will be my new name for the Jura/crunchie combo.
Redartz - Yes, Aero bars are fantastic! Over here, Cadbury tried to blow Aero (made by their mortal enemy, Rowntree Mackintosh) out of the water, by producing the Cadbury Whisper bar. But stooping to such dirty tactics, to me, just made them look bad! (Whisper's pretty good, too, using supposedly higher quality chocolate - but without the flavour, or pedigree! ) UK Channel 4 (or 5?) did a show about how nasty, and cut-throat, the rivalry is between UK confectionery brands. Although supposedly the world of sweets, etc, is something nice, for children, in reality it's literally 'no holds barred', with competing brands willing to stoop to anything to beat their commercial rivals!
Phillip
dangermash - Raise a glass to me; it must certainly warm the blood!
Phillip
Phillip mentioned Marathon bars — I’m not sure if they’re the same as the ones I used to buy at the Student Store in Jr. High School (which is what we called Middle School) but ours were loosely braided ropes of caramel-flavored taffy, with a Milk Chocolate coating. They were tasty, sweet but not TOO sweet, and because of their ‘chewy-ness’, took you awhile to eat. Abba-zaba bars were another taffy treat that we would occasionally get at the student store, but they were almost TOO chewy for me (and didn’t taste nearly as good as Marathons). Other candy items that got me through Jr. High : Bottle Caps, Pop Rocks and Razzles.
At the movies, my candies of choice were Black Crows, Dots (but only if they didn’t have Black Crows) or Sno Caps.
b.t.
Charle Joe:
Did you used to get Szaloncukor candies at Christmas-time?
b.t.
Man City equalized... But it's enough, and Arsenal basically have the title!
Fingers crossed Spurs stay a goal down, and West Ham pull themselves together (a long shot I know, but still...)
b.t,, Hey, are they still called Marathons in the US? Over here they've been Snickers for ages. Still are, even after Brexit!
-sean
Oops, apologies for mentioning the Brexit.
-sean
b.t. - Over here, Marathon was the UK name for Snickers. But it's now got the name, Snickers, just like the US. Our bar that's like a ladder, is called 'Curly Wurly' !
Phillip
Oh, and we used to get a chewy variety of Life-Savers at the Student Store, which was probably very similar to modern-day Life-Saver Gummies (no one used the word “gummies” back then).
b.t.
Oops! Sorry, Sean (re: Marathon/Snickers) - my screen hadn't registered your comment, by the time I submitted mine!
Phillip
No worries, Phillip.
Especially as Spurs are now two down at Chelsea!
-sean
Correction: not any more they aren't. Useless Chelsea.
BT - Charlie knows not of what you speak that starts with Sz… But odds are it is Hungarian if it starts with Sz, lol!
The only thing that can make my sports life richer besides Man City not winning the title and Tottenham losing is West Ham beating Leeds! I really do feel “chicago” cheering for others to lose! (Chicago Cubs in my case.). CH
Charlie used to sell a fair % of his Halloween candy back in middle school. It was all profit since the costs were $0 lol.
Then one day I got a call from the middle school about my son. He was not to sell any more of his Halloween candy at school or he would face detention or suspension. I honestly don’t recall ever telling him about me selling Halloween candy. This could explain why he does so well in sales today lol.
As a very young boy I was fond of Galaxy chocolate counters and Texan bars. Both discontinued now.
I too got the Mars netted Xmas stocking, and also a big tube of Smarties. And, more crucially, a Terry’s Chocolate Orange: it was the only time of year I ever ate Chocolate Orange, and I still buy one every Christmas for the potent nostalgia of the taste.
As a teen, King-size Mars bars. And supercan size Coke (which have just made a comeback!).
The only family memory / connection I have for sweets is mini or fun-size Mars bars being something my Grandparents had in the house. They also had a colour TV and a VCR before we did, and Crunchy Nut Cornflakes instead of plain, they were clearly better off than we were.
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