We met our friends in Wildwood yesterday afternoon and spent some hours with them catching up: we hadn’t seen them since this past November.
By the restaurant where we met was a candy store that has been on the Wildwood boardwalk from when my Dad was young.It’s called Douglass Candy.
In a shore resort town, people are awfully peculiar about their favorite spot to buy sweets when on vacation. For my family, we always went to Douglass for salt water taffy, creme mints, and molasses paddles.I have pretty much outgrown any desire for salt water taffy, and yesterday bought some creme mints. When my Mom would go in and buy candy to bring home when we were on vacation, Douglass used to make the white mint into a braid, and Mom would buy it for my Babci, her mother.They no longer make it, but the creme mints are good to have for an occasion quick fix for indigestion or sour stomach.
The thing I am chomping on right now is the molasses paddle. They put a 4 inch square of what basically is molasses salt water taffy on a taffy stick and then dip it in dark chocolate.We used to have to wait to take them home, and stick them in the refrigerator,where the melted chocolate, from transport in the car, would firm up and the flip side of this? You would have to bite down hard on the paddle, as the taffy was hard as get out.My molars weren’t really fond of this.
Fortunately,I live within striking range, and my paddle that I am enjoying now isn’t refrigerated, and the taste brings me back to the 1960’s and 70’s while in Wildwood on vacation. I can see my Babci waiting in the outdoor pavilion across from the store while we came out with our goodies and we happily went on our way.
Good times!
thereisnosanityclause 