Our book club just got finished reading the novel, Water for Elephants. As is our regular practice, we try to bring snacks which are relevant to the topic of the novel or its geographic location so I was considering what to bring to the event with a circus theme. In Hawaii, the first consideration is a bag of boiled peanuts spiced with five spice. If not that, then we have to consider the Maui County Fair's candied apples - crunchy-juicy apples slathered with red sticky-gooey colored sugar. (This was a favorite back in the day but now with teeth worn down by life, not something one would want to eat on a daily or weekly basis.)
There are also the nostalgic candy bars like Big Hunk, Hershey's chocolate bar, Butterfingers, Almond Joy, Mounds, or the Hawaii favorite - Tomoe Ame with its little gifts. Tomoe Ame candy was wrapped in gelatin paper which we could eat...sweet, chewy gelatin blocks from Japan.
Popcorn is always a favorite and nothing can compare to the Wailuku Kress Store's red and green sugared popcorn. The smell of the popcorn would fill the store beckoning us to the front where the popcorn machine stood guard at the entrance.
I ended up buying boxes of CrackerJack which were a kid-time favorite. It seems however that the cracker jack then was more crunchy and there were more peanuts in the box with some fabulous (or so we thought at that time) prizes. I used to love getting the whizzing whistles are prizes.
What were your childhood treats from your hanabata days? Do they measure up to your memories? Perhaps this is another subject for discussion and reminiscence.
Tomooe ame candies were a luxury and I occasionally enjoy them now but donʻt expect anything from the gifts. I still like the whole concept of eating the "wrapper".
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