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By Amber, on March 11, 2010, at 10:00 pm I judge holidays by their food. Specifically, their candy.
Halloween: awesome. Valentine’s Day: love it. Christmas: the candy situation is so-so, but it gets a pass because of eggnog and all the baked goods. Thanksgiving: not really a fan. There is no Thanksgiving candy that I am aware of. I don’t even like pumpkin pie all that much. But the one thing I will say for it is that it heralds the beginning of eggnog season.
The king of candy holidays, however, is Easter. Some of it is nostalgic — my mother has not only mastered road trips, but she made a mean Easter basket when my sister and I were younger. However, the biggest reason is that I simply cannot get enough Cadbury Creme Eggs and Mini Eggs. Ever. I have been known to hit every drugstore between work and home after Easter in search of them at 50% off. Here’s a crappy cell phone picture of our seasonal candy shelf last Easter:
 Which reminds me, I haven’t bought any Robin Eggs or Peeps yet.
Some holiday candy is just all-year candy dressed up in colored wrappers (I’m looking at you, Hershey’s Kisses), so it saddens me that there is no non-Easter version of my Cadbury favorites (unless you live in Canada), even if it is probably for the best. I would even forgive Cadbury for the sin of shrinking the Creme Eggs if I could get them all year.
I wonder how many Creme Eggs and bags of Mini Eggs I would have to buy to get me through until next Easter. Probably too many to fathom, since we have eaten four bags of Mini Eggs this week.
 Those are bags #5 and #6.
By Amber, on February 21, 2010, at 10:00 pm When I was a kid, my family drove to South Carolina every summer for a week at the beach. I can imagine that it’s probably a massive challenge to minimize the whining and fighting between kids during a 12-hr car trip, but my mother is a master of the art of the bribe. My sister and I were each allowed some magazines and a new tape for our walkmen, and we couldn’t start using either until we got onto the highway. After that, once an hour, we were given a wrapped surprise — usually candy, a puzzle book, something like that. And I’m not ashamed to admit that I loved it when she surprised me by resurrecting this tradition when we drove from Albany to Maine in September 2009. :)
Now that I’m married, most of my roadtrips are with Mark. We usually just listen to NPR, but I always have crosswords or sudoku on hand in case I need emergency entertainment. And when we stop for a bathroom break, I’ll sometimes buy candy (admittedly, I always have seasonal candy in the house, but roadtrip candy tastes better!). Since we started visiting hill country regularly, we have found the ultimate rest stop.
Having spent many, many hours of my life on I-95, the NJ Turnpike, and the Garden State Parkway, I am familiar with a wide array of rest stops and convenience stores, and it is my expert opinion that Buc-ee’s is the Cadillac of convenience stores. It inspires well-earned, passionate praise. Do you know what you get on the NJ Turnpike? A dry, shriveled hotdog and a restroom that makes you want to take a shower. Do you know what you get at Buc-ee’s? Fresh kolaches and bathrooms that they brag about on billboards. The billboards, by the way, delight me because they remind me of all of the crazy South of the Border billboards that we kept track of on those childhood trips to SC. Except, when you finally get to Buc-ee’s, it’s not a creepy, cockroach-infested temple to food poisoning. Okay, maybe I never ate at South of the Border, but one detour through it was enough to persuade me that I didn’t need to.
Our usual Buc-ee’s picks are fresh jerky for Mark and fudge for me. It’s a beautiful thing when you enjoy the journey as much as the destination.
 From left: peanut butter & chocolate (top) and butterfinger (bottom), dulce de leche (x2), cookies & cream (x2)
By Amber, on January 3, 2010, at 9:21 pm This post was going to be a review of these gourmet goodies that I tucked into Mark’s stocking:
 I think he might be avoiding trying them. I’m not sure why — if the artificial bacony scent wafting through the shrink wrap isn’t a lure, then what is? I can, however report on the following treat that I got for myself:
 The verdict: in a word, NO. I thought they were pretty foul once you got past the vaguely eggnog-flavored shell. Mark compared them to Gatorade gum. Gatorade, you may note, does not sell an eggnog-flavored sports drink (but I would try it if they did!).
You can buy all this weird candy and more at Offbeat Treats. (They have plenty of things that actually look pretty good, like giant candy buttons. I loved candy buttons when I was little!) They even sent me some free candy cigarettes, with the following note:
 Thank you, Offbeat Treats. I did indeed enjoy my feer smoks.
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