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National Candy Corn Day

October 30: National Candy Corn Day!

Who knew that candy corn was such a polarizing issue?! I don’t think you can be indifferent about candy corn… either you love it or you hate it. It’s the autumnal version of egg nog (which I will celebrate on December 24!). I, for one, love both egg nog AND candy corn. I probably wouldn’t like either very much if they were around all the time, but the fact that they’re so seasonal really makes them more special and also… nostalgic, maybe?

I think that’s why we like a lot of things, or, at least, why I like a lot of things. Would I feel compelled to buy animal crackers (the ones that come in the box with the string, not those gross pink and white frosted ones with sprinkles on them) if I didn’t eat them when I was little? No. There are probably weirdos out there who buy the pink and white animal crackers because their mom bought them for them when they were wee, and I can’t fault them for that. We associate particular foods with certain events and stages in our lives and maybe we try to hold on to those memories by continuously buying foods that we would never buy if they were just introduced to us today. I can’t recall any distinct memories associated with candy corn, but I do seem to associate egg nog with Christmas at my grandma’s house. I think she buys it for much the same reason other people do (you’re “supposed to” buy egg nog for Christmas, even if no one asks for it), and I remember having a little cup of it every Christmas. I didn’t realize people put alcohol in egg nog (or that people make it at home instead of buying it out of the dairy case next to the milk…) until I was in college and went to a holiday party and got surprisingly tipsy off of what I assumed was plain ole’ egg nog.

I don’t know why I spent so much time talking about egg nog… now I’ll have nothing to write about on December 24. I guess I will have to write about Santa, instead.

Tomorrow: National Candy Apple Day

National Oatmeal Day

October 29: National Oatmeal Day!

Sidenote: Do you think they make oatmeal day right before Halloween make our hearts just a teeny bit healthier before we inhale pounds of fat and sugar?

I have a love/hate relationship with oatmeal. Here is me eating a bowl of oatmeal:

“This is delicious! I’m going to eat this every morning!”- me, digging into the bowl of oatmeal.

“Why am I eating this beige lumpy paste??”- me slogging through the second half of the bowl of oatmeal.

It’s good in the beginning, but then it’s like ughhhh when it this going to be over? It gets to the point where you’re chewing something that doesn’t need to be chewed anymore, but then for whatever reason you can’t stop chewing and then you have to consciously remind yourself to just swallow it already. Or maybe that’s just me.

Tomorrow: National Candy Corn Day.

National Chocolate Day

October 28: National Chocolate Day!

I’m not one of those womenfolk who goes super nutso over chocolate. Do I like chocolate? You betcha! Do I like chocolate as much as a Cathy comic would make you believe? No. But no one really does, right? Are there ladies out there who like, would shank someone for a Hershey bar? No, right? I mean, yeah, I’m gonna eat chocolate if it’s there (because I’m not an idiot), but this whole FEMALES LOVE THEIR CHOCOLATE. AND THEIR WINE. AND THEIR CATS. AND OMG THEY BLEED FOR DAYS AND DON’T DIE is tired and old and annoying and I sort of hate it.

That said! I do enjoy a candy bar. And turtles (the chocolate covered nuts kind, not the creatures that carry salmonella). And pudding. And chocolate cake (with non-chocolate frosting). And ice cream. But I feel that this is a UNIVERSAL thing and not an ovaries thing.

Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the plethora of FUN SIZED candies that are inundating our lives right now. Did you know that in order to be called FUN SIZE they need to contain zero calories? Cool, right?

Tomorrow: National Oatmeal Day

National Potato Day

October 27: National Potato Day!

Potatoes! Who doesn’t love potatoes?? Baked potatoes, roasted potatoes, french fries, hash browns, home fries, mashed potatoes, smashed potatoes, twice baked potatoes, potato skins, potato chips, au gratin, scalloped, shoe stringed, potato pancakes, tater tots, potato salad (the best kind of salad?), boiled, potato soup, in pasta (helllloooo gnocchi)… basically, I’m to potatoes what Pvt. Benjamin Buford Blue (aka Bubba) is to shrimp. Except my family doesn’t own a potato farm so never mind. Let’s just say that I like potatoes. A lot.

I ultimately decided to make a baked potato because of the simplicity and to showcase the ‘tatoness. And because I was lazy. Now I wish I had made something more… photogenic. But the point remains: POTATOES RULE!

Tomorrow: National Chocolate Day