A Kid in a Candy Store

I love the Food Network. Where else can you learn how to make – well, anything you can think of and most things you never imagined? I especially love their competitions, during which, with typical shadenfreude (come on, admit it,) we all wait for the moment when someone drops his entry just as he's carrying it to the judges' table.

I happened to tune in the other night right when they were talking about an old-time candy store in Manhattan that sells all of the nostalgia-tinged treats of my youth. The place is crammed floor to ceiling with chocolates, nuts, fruits, jellies, teas, and novelty items. I've lived in New York all of my life and I never even heard of this place. (That's not so unusual, however. There's a storefront for just about anything you can think of here, and most get by on word-of-mouth. New York is a mammoth city, made up of a million little neighborhoods.)

The store's "penny candy" section grabbed my attention. (A penny? Pul-eeze! Not in my lifetime.) I immediately was transported back to my youth. I spent an unholy amount of time at the corner candy store, which housed a counter filled to bursting with Sugar Daddies, dots, marshmallow twists, jelly rings, Mary Janes, and a thousand other teeth-destroyers. Is it any wonder that every tooth in my mouth has a filling?

I had see this place up close and personal, and today, I journeyed to Nirvana; otherwise known as Economy Candy on Rivington Street. This inconspicuous emporium is located in what is known as the Lower East Side of Manhattan, a neighborhood that time forgot. You won't find too many plush condos here. The streets are filled with ancient apartment buildings festooned with fire escapes. Any moment, I expected to see Toody and Muldoon roll by in Car 54.

I entered the shop and I immediately felt happy. There was so much to choose from, I didn't know where to start. M&Ms in all the colors of the rainbow. Pez dispensers with every cartoon character from the beginning of time. Wax lips. Chocolate cigarettes. Itty-bitty Mars bars, Mounds, Dove bars. Good and Plenty; O Henry, Junior Mints; Halvah. And my all-time favorite – chocolate Ice Cubes. This little bit of heaven is a square of chocolate with a cooling whoosh. I grabbed several handfuls and went back twice for more.

I walked around the store four times, just to make sure I didn't miss anything. My mission was to fill a tin for a friend with a sweet tooth. Mission accomplished.

I traveled two hours and I took four trains and I strained my back carrying it all home. But a bunch of my friends now are going to have a very sweet new year. And I rekindled a few happy childhood memories. I have to sign off now to make dinner – peanut-butter cups and jelly rings on a bed of M&Ms.