The Art/Rituals of Eating Certain Types of Candy :) (And Michelle C.-You won the last blog contest!)

As you may, or may not know, I spend a lot of time in my pumpkin-themed office, trying to force myself to work.  While doing this, I find that at various times of any given day, my mind begins to wander.  Understand that once my mind starts to wander, there’s no telling where it might end up!

As it would happen, this moment is one of those moments!  I had been sitting here for who-knows-how-long, trying to work…and yet, for some reason, all I could concentrate on was how many yummy things there are out in the world right now that I want to eat, but can’t!  Naturally, this train of thought led me to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (the mini ones).  Which, for some reason, led me to thinking about Baby Ruth candy bars and Butterfinger candy bars…which consequently led me to thinking about 3 Musketeers candy bars which of course led me to thinking about my life-long friend Amy L. and the delicate manner in which she use to consume a 3 Musketeers candy bar.

I can still see it now…the vision as fresh in my mind as if it were only yesterday!  There we were…sitting in the Valley High School cafeteria, having just finished our lunch.  Yep…me and Amy…Amy and me…and from her lunch sack, her pocket or by having dropped 50 cents in a vending machine (I don’t remember the means by which Amy came to have a 3 Musketeers bar in her possession that day), Amy produced a 3 Musketeers bar.  What followed was truly a mesmerizing sight to behold.

Now, I’ve since seen other people consume a 3 Musketeers candy bar in a similar manner.  In fact, my own daughter, Sandy, use to eat a 3 Musketeers bar in this same fashion (even though I had never told her about my witnessing Amy’s legendary method of thoroughly enjoying a 3 Muskeeters).  (I say that my daughter, Sandy, USE TO eat a 3 Musketeers bar this way because, she apparently doesn’t anymore, owning to the fact that one of her college friends told her that the middle of a 3 Musketeers bar reminder her of chicken fat.  Grodie! )

Anyway, though the method might be familiar to you, way back in the Valley High School cafeteria in the early 1980s, I had never witnessed such a thing as Amy’s savoring her 3 Musketeers!  It was totally intriguing to me…the way she very gracefully removed the candy bar from its wrapper, completely stripping it of it’s silvery, aluminum-ish envelope…the way she held it with one thumb and index finger poised at its center, as she nimbly, slowly and very neatly, used her teeth to pull the chocolate coating off one end of the 3 Musketeers bar and reveal the creamy nougat.  Next she rotated the candy bar, then stylishly repeat the process of removing the chocolate coating on the other end by using the same method, or perhaps the index finger and thumb of her free hand…you know, to mix it up a bit.

Then came the sides of the 3 Musketeers bar…removed in the same manner (either with teeth or thumb and forefinger)…the the chocolate bottom of the candy bar was then removed.  (Ha ha!  “Chocolate bottom!” ) Having saved the best chocolate coating for last (the top with the cute little swirls on it), Amy then relished the taste of the final pieces of chocolate coating before eating the creamy nougat that is the innards of a 3 Musketeers.

Now to be honest, I can’t remember if Amy always had the time during our lunch there in Valley High School’s cafeteria to perform this ritual as perfectly, delicately and with as much patience as a Tibetan Monk the way she did that particular day (it seems I remember that in most incidences she only had time to do the sides and ends), but on that particular day I was in AWE!!!!  I’d never seen anything like that!

I mean, for the most part, I had always taken after my dad when it came to eating candy bars…open one end of the wrapping and pull it down as if peeling a banana…take a bite, then another, then another and Voila!  It was like Mr. Turtle counting how many licks it took to take to the get to the center of a Tootsie Pop…“One, two, three. (Sound of crunching.)  Three.”  Therefore, Amy’s meticulous dissection of the 3 Musketeers bar was mind-blowing to me!

Well, getting back to the subject at  hand, reminiscing over Amy’s 3 Musketeers ritual, did NOTHING to get my mind back on track and to writing today.  On the contrary, my dear Watson!  Instead, I began to think of the fact that I have my own ritual preference when eating Whoppers.

Yes!  Though I’m always careful when eating a Baby Ruth bar or Butterfinger bar…you know, because they’re so messy (like when you eat the Baby Ruth, sometimes you hit a peanut and then it causes the surrounding chocolate to crumble and get all over the seat of the car while you’re driving…and of course you can’t take your eyes off the road long enough to brush the chocolate crumbs off the seat between your legs…so you just have to leave them there and then you end up with melted chocolate all over your inner thighs and rear end…and your husband asking you how chocolate got all over the driver’s side seat and reminding you that it is the very reason that he always buys cars with leather seats…because the chocolate cleans off easier, and the same thing happens with Butterfingers if you eat them while you’re driving), and so I keep my hand cupped up just under my chin in case of residual chocolate crumbs.  Right?

But Whoppers…now that’s a different ballgame!  That’s where I have my own ritual, and I’m guessing you might, too.

First off, I always eat one Whopper at a time…which is weird for me, since with most candies that are small (like skittles or M&Ms) I have to have two at at time…one for each side of my mouth.  However, for me, Whoppers take care of themselves in that regard.

What I do is take a Whoppers and bite it in half with my front teeth.  Then I gingerly pop both halves in my mouth, working them around a bit with my tongue, until one half is on one side of my tongue with the malted inside part pressing against my taste buds, and the other half is mirroring the placement on the other side of my tongue.  Then I wait with delicious anticipation until when, in the very next instant, I can feel that malted center tingling on my tongue as it dissolves!  LOVE that sensation!  Fabulous!

So there you have it…an example of where my thoughts wander to when I’m trying to work!  Of course, NOW I’m back to thinking about all those yummy things I’m not supposed to eat…like a Butterfinger bar crushed up and mixed into a bowl of Vanilla Bean ice cream!  Yikes!

Meanwhile, it’s time for a new contest!  But first, let me pull a name out of my hat for the winner of the last one…Michelle Christensen!  LOVED your story of the Barbie house, Michelle!  They have these ones now on Amazon that I dream over all the time!  I might have to get one once I have a granddaughter to spoil!  Meanwhile, shoot me an e-mail with your address so I can get your copies of Over in the Meadow and Andrew Henry’s Meadow sent to you!  Hope you love them!

And for this week’s contest…how about we make it simple.  I don’t have any 3 Musketeers bars loitering around here anywhere, BUT how about a $25 gift certificate to The Olive Garden?!?!  Yes!  Now my mind is REALLY wandering!  Must be time for dinner.  Just leave a comment here, on Facebook, Goodreads, etc. telling me anything about your favorite candy and I’ll drop your name in my hat for the chance to win the gift card to The Olive Garden!  Yay!  (Still wish I had a Costco-sized bag of Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups though. )