I have always had a sweet tooth. My grandma would make fresh bread and I would put butter and sugar on it until it was crunchy. Yum.
Even my tea had several teaspoons of sugar to cut the taste of caffeine. My mom would buy sugarless cereal but when she wasn’t looking I would pour the sugar into the bowl and have huge blobs of sugar on the bottom to eat with my milk. I was a sugar holic…. it never affected me when I was young because I was very active and energetic. My favorite had to be candy…the more chocolate the better.
My brother and I would bike down the Cramer Road to Lamb’s grocery store where we could buy a variety of candies from behind the counter. Later when I worked there as a cashier I ate a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup every single day. Is there a better combination than peanut butter and chocolate? No there is not!
Well I have to tell you that I have found candy lover’s heaven and it is not too far away! If you have the time, please take a carload of your favorite kids and make the trip to Jordan, Minnesota, home of Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store!
It took more than two hours to see everything aisle by aisle. I went with my three kids and they had a heyday! (I enjoyed myself too.). The store has everything you would need to make a ginormous candy gram. You could be amazingly creative.
I limited myself to a monkey candy holder that claps cymbals when you push a button and a package of Amish microwave popcorn (do you see the humor in this)? I also bought a bottle of Squirt and candy cigarettes to keep as two fun mementos from my childhood.
Zoe, Jack and Ben each brought home a bag of several different treats. When we got to the car Zoe couldn’t believe I was leaving without my favorite candy treat …so she ran back in and surprised me with fresh truffle peanut butter cup. So delicious!
I have cut sugar from my diet over the last several months, it has been the best decision for me but there was a time that I was Crazy for Candy!
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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