Friday, October 17, 2008

Candyholic

The other day I was talking about candy on Joel's blog and that, along with Halloween approaching, got me all excited for candy and I just really wanted some candy. So i did what anyone would and should do: Visit Dylan's Candy Bar.


(p.s. i stole these off of Google)

It is a magical candy land that is similar to the candy shop i visited in Atlantic City last year, but I'd say it's probably better. It feels like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and has any kind of candy you could ever dream of.

There's the bulk candy lover's heaven (which is me) and they have classic candies, and nostalgic candies for the older folk, new candies, and weird candies:



Here's the bulk.




The candy shop has two floors. Upstairs is the bulk candy and downstairs is the fudge shop and things like chocolate covered potato chips, and also the more classic candies and candybars, etc etc.



Being there makes me immensely joyful. It will bring back the kid in you, but since i am largely a kid anyway, there I just feel at home. I went a little crazy with my purchases. I bought a bag of gummies (my fave), a bag of sour gummies, a chocolate bag, and a bag of suckers and other hard candy. I took some lame pictures of my goods, to show to you and analyze. Here's an assortment of my gummies. Sean says this picture looks gross, like a display of insect specimens. Ha ha. It totally does. I wish i'd stuck a pin in everything.




Here is what you see:

gummy octopi
gummy mummy-- actually i think it's just a skeleton but i wanted to rhyme.
gummy lobster
gummy penguins (peach-flavored. random)
pineapple-flavored gummy bears
gummy strawberry
gummy skulls

i love halloween!

Here's my sour gummy pic:



sour peaches, large and small
sour watermelon
sour CANDY CORN! hello, it was awesome... looking. Tasted like filth, which is what candy corn tastes like anyway. I got it for the novelty of it & to celebrate Halloween. Aren't they great? Giant, gummy sour candy corn. I was pleased (and yet repulsed) to discover they actually taste like candy corn. Also: the center is that weird creamy gummy texture. It was interesting, and complex, and gross. But if you like candy corn, you would probably love these. I wish I did, but I just don't.

I also saw 4 bins, each holding different-colored candy corn, each of a different flavor. Sorry I didn't get a pic. It was quite a sight. Purple, green, red candy corn...

Inside my chocolate bag:


chocolate-covered oreo (excellent)
crispy crunchy chocolate clusters (i had no idea what they were, but i was intrigued)
marshmallow log things
chocolate-covered peanuts

The chocolate selection was limited for me just because I strictly go dark chocolate these days but man, had I known those ugly chocolate cluster crumbles of crap (by the look of them) were as good as they are, I would have purchased THREE POUNDS of it. Seriously. I may even need to go back. It was difficult to identify the exact flavor. It could have been toffee'ish but it tasted more like cereal. I'm thinking it was chocolate-covered Golden Graham clusters but I am not 100%.

I got these for Old Man Sean. Candy filled with juice is never ok. But they are pretty in their wrapper.


Who doesn't love a dum dum.


Lastly, I gasped when I saw these. Smartie suckers!


I can't remember exactly the original association I have with these suckers. Is it from an early Halloween? Elementary school parties? The candy drop during the Highland Fling festivities in my home town? I don't know, but I'm pretty sure these suckers are my very first memory.


Dylan's Candy Bar is absolutely one of my happy places. Even though the store is ALWAYS packed to the gills with visitors and candy lovers of all shapes and sizes, when I am there, it is like the candy and I are the only two people in the room.
Being there makes me want to buy all of the candy, carry it up in a hot air balloon, and have a giant candy-drop for the whole wide world.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

mmmm... a candy drop. I second that notion. Just let me know where you'll be floating and I will follow underneath.

Joel said...

I demand that you visit my neighborhood first when you do the drop.

)en said...

You bet. Have you ever participated in a candy drop? It is surreal and the most exciting thing in the world.

Man.. i am realizing that candy makes me ILL. Which is sad. I used to eat it all the time way back in the day. And i still ove it but seriously once piece will make me sick. THe chocolate is different but those gummies are killer. So sad. I'm such an old lady.

Scott said...

I remember the smarties candy-type suckers being in the $0.25 vending machines in Macey's in Orem. They were always unwrapped. I also remember University Mall had parking lot lighting which looked just like them. Huge, enormous smarties suckers giving their light to the world. I ate their babies. The end.

Pedersen Posse said...

Dylan's looks like my dream store. I love candy corn and am intrigued by the gummy variety, especially since they are sour too. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. I do think there were smarty suckers in the Highland Fling, or perhaps elementary school... My memories of them are too general. (sorry I'm no help) Regardless, I loved them and the fact that the stick was a straw and always fun to play with when the sucker was devoured.

)en said...

YES!!! The straw/stick!! haha.. oh MAN, good job. With all of our memories combined, we can figure it out. Because you're right, Scott, they were unwrapped. (that was funny, by the way) And a vending machine is sounding very familiar. Yesss...it's all coming back...

Brooke said...

Speaking of candy from childhood, I'll like to mention Big League Chew (nice--bubble gum modeled after chewing tobacco), Brown Cows (a long sucker thing of rock-hard caramel covered by chocolate), and those dipstick things where you lick the candy stick and dip it in crystal sugar.

I'll like to find me a Brown Cow, but the others I can do without.

)en said...

Lick-m-stick is awe-some! The stick tasted like detergent, as I recall. But the sugary powdermmmm....

Yeah, Big League Chew is totally a memory from my childhood. I always wanted it but rarely had it, and then when I did have it, it wasn't that cool. I think i just liked the idea of fistfuls of chewing gum. Because who wouldn't?

How about Sugar Daddies? I never liked them but they are from olden days. What else?

Martha said...

those suckers, on top of the candy bins were totally made by kencraft. hooray.

i actually went to this very store in march of 2006 and i saw the VERY chocolate suckers that i made the summer before to pay for that tour. i'd have to say that's pretty excellent.

)en said...

You know, I think I saw some candy when i was there a while back that had a Kencraft label on them & I was like, what the?? So right on. And it's cool you got to see your labors on display. :)