The Candy Man Can

By Chef Diane

Who can take a sunrise

Sprinkle it with dew

Cover it in chocolate and a miracle or two

The Candy Man

The Candy Man can

'cause he mixes it with love

and makes the world taste good

First of all I want to apologize to you.  June is National Candy Month, but I picked a terrible time to tell you since it's the next to the last day of the month.  That doesn't give you much time to indulge, so I guess you can say I was looking out for your health.

June is a great month for candy.  In recent years a popular item at wedding receptions is a candy bar, a table is set with all kinds of different candy, sometimes in the bride's wedding colors, and in various types of containers.  This is a big hit for children who are attending, and is also fun for grown ups too.  Normally a bag is provided for the guests to fill with their choice of candy and this serves as their "wedding favor" or gift for attending the wedding.   Since June is the most popular month for weddings, celebrating candy in June makes good sense too.

When my son was small we had pizza and movie night every Friday night.  Every Friday night he would always get the same movies, Peter Pan and Willie Wonka.  My favorite part of Willie Wonka was when all the kids were on the boat and they are floating down the chocolate river and they arrive in "Paradise".  The room where everything is edible and the kids are running around tasting everything.  It all looked so delicious.

I have dabbled a bit in making candy.  Mostly at Christmas time I will make fudge, divinity and pralines.  Pralines are a southern specialty, and I have a wonderful recipe for them that will simply melt in your mouth.  Since I was so late in telling you about Candy month, I thought I would share my secret Praline recipe with you.

So for the last days of Candy month, treat yourself to your favorite candy, or try your hand in making your own.

Pralines

Ingredients:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 can evaporated milk

5 Cups sugar

1 stick butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 pound pecan halves

Directions

Mix first 4 ingredients and cook on low in large pot.  I use my biggest soup pot.  Stir side to side until you can see the bottom of the pot when the spoon scrapes across.  This takes about 2 hours.  Add vanilla and pecans.  Cool pot in water and stir until thickens.  Drop on wax paper in large spoonfuls.  Let Cool.  Enjoy.

 (Photos from Google)

National Taffy Day

By Diane Forrest

Growing up in a small delta town, there wasn't a whole lot to do.  We didn't have malls or amusement parks, only 3 channels on the television set, and no Internet!  One thing I did have was books.  I would spend the day losing myself in other worlds.  One of my favorite books was the Nancy Drew Mysteries.  Not only did I like them for the mystery, but also the wonderful descriptions of all the meals and snacks Nancy ate.  In one particularly interesting story, Nancy and her friends Bess and George attended a taffy pull with other friends.  At that time I didn't know what taffy was, much less the purpose of pulling it.

Several years later my family moved to the capital state, and attended the State Fair.  It was there that I had my first taste of taffy.  It was sweet chewy and delicious.  I ended up buying a whole bag of it, and waiting for the next year's fair to come back so I could get more!

These days, I can no long eat taffy due to dental work it could wreck, but that didn't stop my son from bringing back a box of brightly colored flavored chewy taffy to tempt me with.  My mother also brought back a box from her trip to Tennessee and was surprised when I didn't even offer her a piece.

If you live in an area where taffy is not available, I have found a recipe here that you can use to make some at home.  You can spend a fun evening with your family experiencing an old-fashioned taffy pull, and hopefully leaving your fillings in tact during the process.  To check out the recipe, click here: http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/candy/recipe-taffy.html

(All images from Google) 

Happy Mother’s Day

By Diane Forrest

M - O - T - H - E - R

"M" is for the million things she gave me,

"O" means only that she's growing old,

"T" is for the tears she shed to save me,

"H" is for her heart of purest gold;

"E" is for her eyes, with love-light shining,

"R" means right, and right she'll always be,

Put them all together, they spell

"MOTHER,"

A word that means the world to me.

Howard Johnson (c. 1915)

Today is a day set aside to pay honor to our mothers.  Everyone has a mother.  They come in all shapes and sizes, young or old, sweet or mean, rich or poor, and everywhere in between.  According to Wikipedia, the modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia. She then began a campaign to make "Mother's Day" a recognized holiday in the United States. Although she was successful in 1914, she was already disappointed with its commercialization by the 1920s. Jarvis' holiday was adopted by other countries and it is now celebrated all over the world. In this tradition, each person offers a gift, card, or remembrance toward their mothers, grandmothers, and/ or maternal figure on mother's day.

This past week I went to see my son for Mother's day.   His wife had gone out of town to visit her mother, and he had to stay behind to work, and "mother" his 3 dogs.  We had a wonderful relaxed visit.  It was the first time I had seen his new home, and we went out for a wonderful Italian dinner.  Of course when we came back from dinner, I spent the rest of the night cleaning the mess he had left for his wife. I guess mom's will always pick up after their kids...or is that just me?  We met for lunch the next day near his office, then I headed back home, wanted to beat the bad weather that was rolling in.

Mother's day is not about what to buy her; I have been reading several sites that offer suggestions about what she wants, what she doesn't want and things to surprise her with.  Personally the best gift I can get is spending time with my son, some younger mothers may want to spend time away from their children..hahaha.

Today is Mother's Day, if you are able, spend some time with your mom, eat lunch or brunch or dinner or give her a call if you are too far away. If your mother is no longer around, spend the day with an aunt or other family member, or even an elderly neighbor who is spending the day alone.

We at KISBYTO would like to wish all the mothers out there a very “Happy Mother's Day”.  How do you plan to spend the day?  

(All images from Google) 

Enjoying Chocolate Week - Yum!

By Diane Forrest

I recently had to take my car to the shop for repairs.  I thought I would have it back later in the day, however they were going to have to keep it from Wednesday til Friday.  The first thing I did was to check my chocolate stash.  Raisinettes, check, Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, check, Ghirradelle peppermint bark, check.  That should hold me for a couple of days.  No matter what you have, if you are not able to get what you want right when you want it, you can go berserk...or at least I can.  One of the first things I purchased after my car was returned was a package of Grandma's Chocolate Chip cookies!

This week is American Chocolate Week.  It comes after you have finished off your supply of Valentine's chocolate, and before the Easter Bunny brings you some Reece's Eggs.  Chocolate.com states that not only is it wonderful, it is also good for you. Chocolate also contains three chemicals that are good for your brain, and can make you feel better. 

    1.   Anandamine: can extend your feelings of happiness and make you laugh more often.

1. Phenylethylamine: raises blood pressure and blood sugar levels just enough to make you more alert, and gives you that "love" feeling.
2. Theobromine: similar to caffeine. It causes relaxation, but also acts as a stimulant by increasing your brain activity.

Don't be surprised if you notice there are a lot of candy sales in your area, and don't be afraid to stock up.  Some ways you can celebrate Chocolate week include:

• Cook with chocolate, bake a pie or cake, even make some fudge.
• try some chocolate from other parts of the world
• If you are a milk chocolate lover, try some dark chocolate, the benefits from the dark chocolate are even greater than milk chocolate.
• Watch Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory while munching on some raisinettes or Malt-balls.

Enjoy Chocolate week, and let us know how you plan to celebrate.

(All images from Google)

Chocolate Mint Day

(Google Image)

By Diane Forrest

Do you remember the commercial where someone is carrying a jar of peanut butter...and someone walking with a candy bar...and they run into each other and the candy falls in the jar, and the peanut butter gets on the chocolate...and they say...mmm this is good...and that’s how Reese’s peanut butter cups came to be.  Some things just go together.... like peanut butter and Jelly, mashed taters and gravy, and bacon lettuce and tomato.

One of my favorite combinations though is mint and chocolate.  This must be a day designed just for me!!  Its Chocolate Mint Day!  I have loved chocolate mints every since I had my first Andees candy when I was young.  I thought this must be what Heaven tastes like.  Then, I discovered mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I was in high school at the time; I grew up in a small town, so we didn’t have an ice cream parlor.  It wasn’t until we moved to the big city that I found that.  Now it’s the only ice cream I ever get. Sadly, we moved from the big city to a smaller city, and there is again no ice cream parlor, but....you can now buy it in the grocery stores!  So I get to treat myself every now and then. I found a new favorite last year at Christmas, Santa brought me some peppermint bark, its white chocolate candy with crush peppermints on top.  Little did I know that they only sold it during the holidays.  Fortunately for me, the Easter bunny had held back a bag, so I was able to enjoy it a little longer.  Another thing I discovered was Hershey's Mint truffle kisses!

(Google Image)

They are amazing, but they two are only found during Christmas.  I only got one small bag, the only one they had left, and I am still rationing them so I can enjoy them for as long as possible.

Wikihow.com has some suggestions on how to celebrate today.  They include:

Buy some mint chocolate truffles

Bake a mint chocolate cake

Fix a grasshopper martini or milkshake

Use some mint chocolate beauty products like foot cream

Have some mint chocolate chip ice cream at bedtime

(Google Image)

If you love mint and chocolate like I do, I'm sure you don’t need any suggestions on how to celebrate today, just be sure to save some for the rest of us!

Share the Love

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By Diane Forrest

Redneck Valentine Poem

Collards is green,

my dog's name is Blue

and I'm so lucky

to have a sweet thang like you.

Yore hair is like cornsilk

a-flapping in the breeze.

Softer than Blue's

and without all them fleas.

You move like the bass,

which excite me in May.

You ain't got no scales

but I luv you anyway.

Yo're as satisfy'n as okry

jist a-fry'n in the pan.

Yo're as fragrant as "snuff"

right out of the can.

You have some'a yore teeth,

for which I am proud;

I hold my head high

when we're in a crowd.

On special occasions,

when you shave under yore arms,

well, I'm in hawg heaven,

and awed by yore charms.

Still them fellers at work,

they all want to know,

what I did to deserve

such a purdy, young doe.

Like a good roll of duct tape

yo're there fer yore man,

to patch up life's troubles

and fix what you can.

Yo're as cute as a junebug

a-buzzin' overhead.

You ain't mean like those far ants

I found in my bed.

Cut from the best cloth

like a plaid flannel shirt,

you spark up my life

more than a fresh load of dirt.

When you hold me real tight

like a padded gunrack,

my life is complete;

Ain't nuttin' I lack.

Yore complexion, it's perfection,

like the best vinyl sidin'.

despite all the years,

yore age, it keeps hidin'.

Me 'n' you's like a Moon Pie

with a RC cold drank,

we go together

like a skunk goes with stank.

Some men, they buy chocolate

for Valentine's Day;

They git it at Wal-Mart,

it's romantic that way.

Some men git roses

on that special day

from the cooler at Kroger.

"That's impressive," I say.

Some men buy fine diamonds

from a flea market booth.

"Diamonds are forever,"

they explain, suave and couth.

But for this man, honey,

these won't do.

Cause yor'e too special,

you sweet thang you.

I got you a gift,

without taste nor odor,

more useful than diamonds...

IT'S A NEW TROLL'N MOTOR!!

(Google Image)

When I was in elementary school, one of my favorite holidays was Valentine’s Day.  Everyone would make a box to place on their desk, and during our party, we would take turns and walk around delivering out cards to each student.  Then we would have cupcakes, cookies and other delicious treats. I couldn't wait to get home to open my cards to see what the boy I had a crush on put in my mailbox.

(Google Image)

I remember waking up every Valentine's Day, and sitting on my bedside table would be a heart shaped box of candy from my parents.  One of the saddest Valentine ’s Day was my first year at college.  There was no box of candy by my bed, or even in my mailbox.  The day was saved the next day when a nice big box of candy from my father came in the mail (after I called him crying of course).

(Google Image)

I have always loved passing out cars.  When I was working in the hospital, I would get the box of school valentines, and pass them to everyone I saw.  I would love picking out the perfect card for my husband, and I would always remember to put a heart shaped box of candy by my son's bed.

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My son grew up a little more cynical, he hates Valentine’s Day.  He accuses it of being a conspiracy between the card makers, the florists, and candy shops.  But Valentine’s Day doesn’t have to be expensive.  I have started making my own cards, and making my own candy, and cookies - and passing it out to people in my life.  You can also send an email valentine card Its hard this year not having a Valentine to share the day with, but I get some joy in spreading the love to many people.

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So, if you don't have a special someone to share your day with, make a card and send to an elderly aunt or uncle, kids or neighbors.  Knowing that you put a smile on someone else's face will warm your heart too.  Happy Valentine's Day!!

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