Marathon Bar

http://www.retroland.com/marathon-bar

Marathon Bar
November 23, 2010

Back in the 70s, there was a true giant in the confectionery world. Sporting a bright red wrapper and containing a full 8” of chocolate and caramel goodness, the Marathon Bar couldn’t help but catch your eye in the candy aisle. And if you were a kid trying to get the most from your measly allowance, this was a surefire way to get some bang from your candy buck. Let’s take a look back.

The Mars Candy Company introduced the world to the Marathon Bar in 1973. The confection consisted of chewy caramel, braided to look similar to a long pretzel, which was then dipped in a luxurious layer of milk chocolate. If time was of the essence and you needed a quick snack, this might not be the candy bar for you. One of these babies could give the jaw a heck of a workout, leaving it feeling like it had just completed a chewing marathon worthy of the Olympics.

This long-lasting ability was the topic of discussion in the series of memorable ads that touted the Marathon Bar. The star of these commercials was none other than film icon John Wayne’s son, Patrick, who portrayed a heroic chap named Marathon John in the ads. His nemesis was Quick Carl who proudly proclaimed, “I like to do everything fast!” The one thing Marathon John knew he couldn’t do fast, however, was eat a marathon bar, and he slowed Carl’s sinister ways to a crawl by simply giving him something to chomp on for a few hours – the candy cavalry, as it were.

Unfortunately, the Marathon Bar didn’t enjoy a similar longevity on store shelves, and by 1981, the last of these memorable candy bars left the candy aisle for good. One can only hope that the resurgence in popularity of various retro candies will someday lead to a return of the Marathon Bar – ready to help make the world safe again, and give our jaws a collective workout along the way.

Candy Corn

http://www.retroland.com/retroblog/food/candy-corn/

Candy Corn
By Eric
Oct 6, 2010

It isn’t always easy to get kids to eat their vegetables, but create a faux candy version and they will eat it by the bushel. Such is the case of candy corn, perhaps the most enduring Halloween confection of all time. The tri-colored kernels of yummy goodness date back well over a century, and in recent years, have received a few makeovers to colorfully coordinate with other popular holidays. But it is the traditional original version that endures, to the tune of 20 million pounds of stuff sold each year – enough that, if each kernel were laid end to end, would supposedly wrap around the earth four times. That’s a lot of corn. Let’s take a closer look at this annual delicacy that seems to bring out the sweet tooth in all of us.

To trace the origins of candy corn, one must travel back to the 1880s, when candy was solely a handmade endeavor. The inventor is unknown, but what is clear is that the Wuderle Candy Company in Philadelphia began mass-producing the product in 1898. While they are no longer in business, another company in Cincinnati, the Goelitz Confectionery Company started making candy corn the same year and continues to produce it to this day. A decade later, Brach’s Confections in Chicago also jumped on the candy corn bandwagon and today is the largest producer of the confection.

So what goes into candy corn to give it its delectable flavor? Plenty of sugar, honey and, of course, corn syrup. These ingredients are cooked into a slurry, then marshmallow and fondant are added to give them their unique soft consistency. Pouring the goo into little corn shaped molds is a three-step process to create the tri-colored appearance of yellow on top, an orange center and a little white tip. While this was all done by hand for decades, machines now handle the duties, but the process itself hasn’t really changed in over a century.

Traditionally, candy corn has always been hauled out by the bushel during Halloween, but that doesn’t mean that other holidays weren’t deserving of a few of these candy kernels as well. A white, orange and brown version, named Indian Corn comes out around Thanksgiving each year. A green, white and red version, dubbed Reindeer Corn serves to give people their fix during the Christmas holidays. And more recently, pink, red and white Cupid corn has been released during Valentine’s Day, as well as pastel Bunny Corn for Easter. Apparently, waiting for Halloween to roll around each year was a little too much for candy corn aficionados.

Strangely enough, other vegetables were considered in the early days, following the success of corn. Candy turnips, for example, were once tried, but failed miserably. Apparently kids have their limits as to which vegetable replicas they will eat by the fistful. So for those waiting for candy brussel sprouts, you’ll just have to keep waiting. Meanwhile, the rest of us will keep shoveling this sugary confection in our mouths, no matter what holiday we are celebrating.

Ichi, Ni, San, Sushi!

http://open.salon.com/blog/mamie_chen/2010/04/02/ichi_ni_san_sushi

APRIL 2, 2010
Ichi, Ni, San, Sushi!
Mamie Chen

I love sushi.

I love the colors – the bright reds, oranges, and yellows that I rarely eat, outside of fruit. I love the textures – the smoothness of sake (salmon), the firm chewiness of tako, the salty pops of ikura. I love the flavors – the unexpected sweetness of ama ebi and uni. I especially love the pungency – the short-lived juxtaposition of pleasure and pain as the wasabi burns through your nasal passages. It doesn’t get any better than that.

I acquired my taste for sushi while in college. A favorite hangout was a Japanese restaurant called Miyake’s. The sushi was probably mediocre at best. I certainly didn’t know any better at the time. But it was the type of place where you got a little sushi to go with your sake bombs, not the other way around. Being in a college town, IDs were always checked. But it’s funny how five people with ID’s could order ten sake bombs without raising any eyebrows.

The ritual: when the drinks were delivered, everyone stood up, holding a shot of sake over a pint of beer. With the waiters urging us on, we’d count to three in Japanese, “Ichi, ni, san, sake bomb!” drop the shot glass into the beer and chug the whole thing. The last person to finish would have to stand up on his or her chair and down a second sake bomb.

Ah…such fond memories of my first sake bomb. A lightweight, I was, of course, the last one to finish my drink. So, with everyone, including the waiters, chanting “On the chair! On the chair!” I clambered up to chug my second sake bomb. Afterwards, as I swayed on my lofty perch, beer dribbling down my chin, I saw two waiters whispering at the far end of the table. Judging by their gestures and facial expressions, I’m pretty sure the conversation went something like this:

"Hey, did you check her ID?"

"No, I thought you did."

"Oh crap."

It’s one thing to turn a blind eye to a couple minors in a large party. It’s another thing to have said minor standing on a chair, chugging a sake bomb with everyone cheering her on. I was quickly urged to sit back down and enjoyed the sushi without any further heckling, at least by the wait staff. Those were the days.

Now, I go into withdrawal after a week or two without sushi. It still amazes me that I was able to go without for nine while months, through each of my three pregnancies. If that isn’t a shining example of the kind of sacrifices parents make for their kids, I don’t know what is. And is it any wonder that my newborns’ first public outings were all to Japanese restaurants? As toddlers, they learned to quietly amuse themselves shelling edamame beans while I got my fix. And these days, I get regular requests from them to go to "that place with the moving (conveyor belt) sushi."

So, in honor of our family favorites, I present Rice Krispies Sushi. I actually considered making up some kind of child-friendly sake bomb, but thought better of it. No need to tempt anyone to call Child Protective Services. Besides, a mom's gotta leave some things for her kids to discover on their own - preferably when they're in college and legal.

**Special thanks to Marianne Daley for letting me steal her idea! I got tired after making just one plate of sushi. She made two large platters of mock sushi for her daughter's birthday party. Amazing!**

Sushi Rice Krispies

3 tablespoons of butter
10 ounces (or about 40) large marshmallows
6 cups of rice krispies
Assorted fruit roll ups and candies for decorations

1. Melt the butter over low heat. Add the marshmallows and stir until melted. Remove from heat, add the rice krispies and stir until the cereal is well coated.

2. Shape the rice krispies into small rectangular cubes for nigiri or roll inside fruit rollups for rolls.

Suggested decorations:
Maguro (tuna) - red fruit roll up or fruit leather or Swedish fish
Tamago (egg) - yellow fruit roll up for egg, green roll up for seaweed belt
Ikura (salmon roe) - green fruit roll up for seaweed, jellybeans for roe
Unagi (eel) - brownish fruit roll up (we used the Lick 'N See fruit roll ups)
Futomaki (rolls) - gummy worms for the inside vegetables, red decorative sugars for the fish roe on the outside

Wasabi - green icing
Soy sauce - melted chocolate

Miso soup - apple mango juice for the soup, mini marshmallows for the tofu and green fruit roll ups for the seaweed