Summer Memories

This month’s #letslunch gang is cooking up summertime memories of childhood. I’m excited to see everyone’s post because we have people from all different age groups, cultural and economic backgrounds! We should get quite a diversity of posts!

























When I was a kid, I lived for summertime. I love the heat, the unencumbered shorts and tanks, running around the neighborhood playing and the foods. Ice tea, watermelon, corn on the cob and fish were among my favorites. “Fish for a kid?”, you might ask, but we spent our summers fishing “down the shore” so it was more than just the eating, it was the entire experience. You see, I grew up in Philadelphia with 4 siblings, so one didn’t jet off to exotic locales, we piled into the station wagon and drove to the coast of New jersey, which was never called “the beach” it was always; “down the shore”. Some of my fondest memories are of camping or a stay at the Jetty Motel, fishing from the jetty or a rented boat during the day, our catch of crabs and flounder for dinner and then Skee Ball on the boardwalk in the evening.
























If you aren’t familiar with Skee Ball, you should be - it started out as a Philly invention and has since spread round the country!

















But what’s a trip to the boardwalk without another Jersey original? Salt Water Taffy!























So I set out to make some salt water taffy of my own. Not only does it conjure up images of balmy evenings playing Skee Ball in the salty breezes with a wad of taffy in my mouth; my Mom used to have taffy pulls for us at birthday parties as well. Double Whammy!



































Salt Water Taffy is nothing more than sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, water, flavoring - and of course, some sea salt. You simply stir everything except the flavoring together on the stove until the sugar starts to dissolve and then comes to a boil. Bring it up to about 250 degrees on a candy thermometer (the lower the temp the softer the taffy will be), then remove from the heat, stir in your flavoring (in this case I used watermelon essence oil) and optional food coloring, and pour it out onto a well greased baking sheet for about 10 minutes or until cool enough to handle.



























Then the fun begins - you pull the taffy, looping the pulled ends over each other and keep pulling until it becomes opaque and lightens in color. But be sure to liberally grease your hand first because it is quite sticky and warm at the outset!



























Then roll it out into ropes between the palms of your hands and using greased kitchen shears, snip them into the desired sizes.



























The hardest part about the whole process is wrapping each piece in wax paper - though at least you will have plenty of time to chew your candy while you do it - these turned out very chewy!



























I also made mini-donuts - state fair style over last weekend but they were hubs’ childhood memory, not mine, so I will save that for the next post! But I want to add a toast to my father-in-law Winfried - my birthday party just won’t be the same without you, but I know you are smiling from where you are. Cheers; Love you lots.

Take a look at all the other amazing posts #letslunchers have come up with:

Check out an original; Mung Bean Popcicles from Grace
Or this Malaysian treat: Char Kuey Teow from Eleanor
From the land down under: Aunty Myrna's Cabbage Rolls from Lisa
A Filipino delight: Suam na Mais from Betty Ann
Aunty Number one's dish (love the title):Fresh Peach Ice Cream from Linda
Poolside noodles in Singapore: Char Bee Hoon from Cheryl
A clever "sammy" of ham & eggs from Vivian