Thursday, March 18, 2010

My Favorite Candy Time Of Year: Easter AND Passover

I LOVE marshmallow and jelly candies. Both Passover and Easter bring forth a veritable cornucopia of sugary delights! The nice thing about jellies this time of year is, you don't have to deal with the "Chuckles" dilemma! You know if you are a fan of the candy....what to do with the black one. Fortunately, up until my mother was hit with Type II Diabetes, she liked the flavor, thus I avoided the guilt of being wasteful pitching that one away.

With choco covered jellies and jelly fruit slices, that isn't an issue. I love'em all! Especially that hard white stuff the makes up part of the "rind" of said slices. Back in the 60's/70's this company called JoyVah used to make this absolutely heavenly candy called "Jell Joys". It was rectangular and had orange jell on top, red jell on the bottom, and that hard white stuff separating the 2. There used to be a corner store on the corner of Broadway and something, same street as The Ed Sullivan Theater, where I would get those all the time. I was in the habit of buying 7 or 8 at a time, 'cause I lived in New Jersey and knew the importance of stocking up.

SIDETRACK: When I was a kid, I was working in commercials and such. Thus would travel to N.Y.C. on a regular basis. The parking lot mom preferred was in the same block as the aforementioned theater. Actually, Studio 51 which is a part of that same parking structure, was an old CBS studio where they would tape games shows. SO parking, acting, and Jell Joys went hand in hand in hand.

I tried reaching out to JoyVah to see if they made Jell Joys anymore, but never got a response. I would LOVE to get those again.

And marshmallows...delicious air filled lumps of sugar and gelatin. During Passover you get the best ones. Firm and tasty, like the old "Campfire" brand that came in boxes used to be. I guess another word for "Kosher" would be Marsh-O-Licious!

Enter WalMart, my fav store in the world. So far in the last 4 days I have eaten over 4 dozen choc covered marshmallow eggs! At $.98 per dozen they are cheaper than real eggs and have that chocolaty, marshmallowy goodness to boot! When I was a kid, candy makers would used all kinds of forms and food items to make into sugar coated marshmallow treats. I can remember marshmallow Hot Dogs, Turkeys, Circus Peanuts, Animals, and so much more. Some of those are still made today and CVS carries the hard candy coated and multi-colored Easter Eggs that are absolute fillings and caps magnets. But well worth the pain!

So as I make my way through another holiday I will avoid, I can not separate myself from the objects of my obsessions. This year the day after said holiday will be my shopping spree of those things Easter/Passover-ish of a jelly and marshmallow nature. Why in the midst of all the stuff going on with moi and the world, am I musing about said delights?

I need a break! Plus, blogging from the public library surrounded by, ummm,"interesting" types is a tad inhibiting regards topic selections. Once I am on my own, internet/laptop wise, I'll have some observations on the experience here.

CALL YOUR CONGRESSMEN AND SAY "VOTE NO" TO UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE!!!!

Not only does this bill invade our liberties in everything from health care to education funding, but under the behavior modifying aspects of it, my fave candies may disappear! I am hoping to maybe getting to D.C. this weekend for a "Storm The Bastile" type of protest. If I go, I promise lots-O-pictures.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

The Overall Goodness Of People

Seems a number of folks have taken the time to read the article about Bob The Van Eating Dog and myself versus PNC Bank and life in The Conversion Van Of Wonders.

I have been approached with offers of everything from laptop repair to dinners to cash and even Bob got a present today! And it seems MANY have done or are doing battle with the holders of their mortgages. Common culprit, Bank Of America, but that's no surprise.

Warms my heart and restores my faith. In spite of challenges of their own in this tough economy, they reach out and offer a hand.

God Bless everyone of them.

Until next time...

Friday, March 12, 2010

Follow Up: Newspaper Story Regards Your Humble Narrator

NOTE: The newspaper linked to here, The Mt. Olive Chronicle, is a weekly paper, thus the end result of me versus PNC Bank is not noted. I spoke with the author/editor Phil Garber this morning and updated him on the resolution. It will be updated in next week's edition.

So here for your viewing pleasure is said article.

Couple of personal notes:

The reason I went to the extremes I did regards the bank is, I was told by PNC Corporate that I was at the end of the road, stonewalled as it were, regards further refunds of penalties drawn. Had I been aware of an alternate route, I'd have been eating much sooner and saved money on glass paint!

I feel the penalties hit not just those in my situation hard, but anyone homeless or not, living hand to mouth...a paycheck away from desperation. The current economy has plenty of folks in that pinch!

I still need a new laptop.

My beard is not fully grey! It has a center of strawberry blonde in the middle, framed and balanced quite nice by grey. So, there!

Anyhow, thank you Phil Garber for highlighting my situation and for all the work you have done at The Chronicle these many years.