Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Still Crazy For Candy After All These Years!

I've been here for a year!!
To all of my followers, I say THANK YOU!
I absolutely love doing this. My dream for years was to open my own sweet shop. I would work when I wanted, create the treats I wanted to make & of course NEVER work weekends. So I wistfully dreamed and drove my husband crazy every so often talking about it. Now, I'm doing exactly what I want to do! My story goes waaayyy back..to the 1960s. Yeah, that far back! I have loved sugar for 48 years and counting. Anytime I could get my hands on some candy, I was happy. Any and all allowance I got was spent on sugary treats. I would walk to the store, spend my entire $5.00, and share my goodies with the kids in my neighborhood. When my sisters and I went trick-or-treating, I would categorize and create candy arrangements on my dresser..until I just had to eat it. I saved ALL my candy wrappers, folding them neatly into piles until my Mom made me throw them away. Does this sound crazy to y'all? I bought any new candy that came out..and still do.
My naming this blog Sugartown Sweets was inevitable. I'll tell you why. Back in the late '60s, we made frequent trips from Atlanta to Tennessee. That's where all my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were. I sure do miss those days. My Daddy worked the graveyard shift at the Ford plant. So, we always left for those trips in the middle of the night when his shift ended. Daddy would carry me, sometimes asleep to put me in the car. He'd drive for hours while us kids slept. Waking up to eat breakfast was the best part of the trip. We always stopped at this wonderful restaurant where I'd eat my favorite cereal. Do y'all remember the little cereal boxes that you opened up to form a bowl of sorts? I got to pour my milk into this cute little box and eat Sugar Crisp, Lucky Charms, Quisp and more! The name of that restaurant was...Sugartown. :o) Ahh, the memories. Memories of my Daddy having a serious sweet tooth that he passed along to me, which brings us back to the sweetest room in our house, the kitchen.  This is where my Mom was always baking something sweet. Cakes, cookies, candies...we had so many favorites. Prune Cake, Congo Bars, Peanut Butter Pinwheels, Almond Cookies, Lemon Balls, Banana Pudding and of course her famous Milky Way Bar Cake! There are just too many to name! When she was baking, I was right there beside her watching everything she did. I almost always got dibs on licking the bowl.

Her Mom, (my sweet MeMaw) also loved making and baking sweets. Her old handwritten recipes are some of my favorite reading materials. She used these while preparing desserts for the kids in the school cafeteria where she worked. I thought it was funny the first time I ever read them..six pounds of butter, twelve cups of flour, etc. I very much remember her making yummy, pretty candies (that we still miss and talk about). Celebrating my 13th birthday in Tennessee the summer of 1970 something, she let me help decorate my own cake and I was hooked forever. After she passed away in 1997, my baby sister and I lovingly shared her cake decorating book collection. We then  decided to take cake decorating classes at Michael's. We absolutely loved it. While I no longer hardly ever decorate cakes these days, it is a very sweet part of my history. I also have a very dear aunt who decorates beautiful cakes and bakes yummy sweets. She made my 5th birthday cake..Strawberry! She tinted tinted it lavender. It is my all-time favorite cake..as well as my Dad's, daughter's and grandchildren! My daughter (who also inherited the sweet tooth) has quite the talent with sweets baking. 
To my Dad, Mom and all of these wonderful women in my life,
 I say thank you and I love you. 
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Thank you All For Visiting My Blog!
Wishing You A Sweet Day
from
SUGARTOWN SWEETS!
Leaving a comment here will make mine!

3 comments:

  1. Happy one year anniversary. It was nice to read about your lifelong love of sweets! Your past sounds so much like mine.

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  2. Happy 1st Birthday Sugartown Sweets!!! I'm proud of you, Momma, for accomplishing your goal and for also giving us all an enjoyable blog to read. P.S. You made me cry!! I love you!! Stephie

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  3. Karen you brought a tear to my eye,and I share so many of these memories with you!!We did have a super childhood!! Happy Anniversary Sis,love you and keep creating!!!!!!!!!

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