Day 11: A Taste of Nostalgia

Sue suggested a post on childhood treats, and I love that idea!

One of my favorite memories is getting a penny (that's right, youngsters, a PENNY!) from my mom and rollerskating to the pharmacy where a package of Pez cost that amount. It was fun to empty the shiny foil package into the preferred Pez head of the moment, but it didn't matter much, because I always finished the pack before I got home. There was something very particular about the way those babies melted on the tongue...they were creamier than Smarties or SweetTarts, and tasted like nothing in nature. I still love them.

Speaking of powdery stuff, I also loved Necco wafers, especially the "all chocolate all the time" packages. There were like a thousand of them in a roll. I liked some of the fruit flavors, but then you'd hit a green one that tasted like licorice which had been sprinkled with motor oil, and it just ruined the whole day.

It was the Bicentennial when I was 10, so I have some sweet associations with patriotic foods. One was a flavor at Baskin Robbins called Yankee Doodle Mint. It was green (like my still-fave Mint Chip) but had little pieces of clear green candy instead of chips. That stuff was freakin' awesome. I've never seen it since. Maybe I was the only one in the nation who liked it.

Since it was the '70s, we occasionally had boxed baked goods at our house (though my mother denies it now) and I was a fan of Zingers, Suzy-Qs, and the cupcakes with the squiggles. (Funny, I'm obviously not the only one who loved those, because Burger Lounge has a homemade version that looks the same but sadly, I have known Hostess Cupcakes, Hostess Cupcakes are a friend of mine, and they are no Hostess Cupcakes.) In 1976, there were Dolly Madison Stars n' Stripes cupcakes--one version had the stars, the other the stripes. I always got stripes, for some reason, and I'm still craving stars, because those were white with little red and blue stars, and what could be cooler? Sigh. Whither Dolly Madison Stars?

When asked my favorite restaurant, I used to respond, without irony, "Carl's Jr." I loved everything about it, and it remained a hangout well into my teen years. They had individual ketchup packs like tiny pudding cups, which was super-convenient, and also doubled as a puck for salt-and-pepper-shaker table hockey, always a lark, at least until someone's white Izod shirt got splattered in a too-enthusiastic defensive block. Does anyone else remember that the kid-sized cheeseburgers in those days--this was also true at Jack in the Box--had a light-brown sweet mustard-y sauce instead of ketchup? It was the most delicious sauce; I still crave it, and now no one's heard of it. I just wish I knew what was in it! It was probably sugar, MSG and ground-up mouse bones.

Another big family treat was Orange Julius. I hear they still have them but that the formula is not the same. It was this incredibly light, fluffy shake with a delicate orange cream flavoring. Mmmmm. My main memory of the Orange Julius restaurant near our house is their high stools with pointy finials on the edges--my brother (Mr. Accident Prone) slipped getting off one time, slammed his chin into the finial, and within seconds the place looked like the aftermath of a slasher film. Since we had taken the ferry over, we had to be escorted to the hospital in the back of a police car. I have a video-sharp image of being thrown over my dad's shoulder as we made a dash for the door while an employee ran after us, reaching out to give me an orange-shaped plastic coin bank ("Sorry your brother is bleeding--come back and see us soon!") but my dad was moving too fast and I couldn't quite reach it. I was so annoyed that my stupid brother had to ruin my opportunity to get a parting gift.