Werther's or not

When my parents came back from Bicol, aside from their usual pili pasalubongs, there was one thing they brought home that caught my eye.

Werthe'rs Original!

This caramel candy is a fave since we were kids. Among the many caramel candies, this one really has the rich, creamy caramel taste that feels indulgent, yet light. 

Apparently, Dad saw it at the Duty Free store at the airport and couldn't resist buying one. Good decision because not only did he bring home a bag of candy, he brought home decades worth of childhood memories.

That's sweetness in more ways than one.

When life gives you Delimons

This is one of my core memories from my childhood days in Bicol.

We went to a nearby sari-sari store and there was a big jar of multi-coloured candies covered in sugar. The bright hues made it instantly attractive, and my curiosity was piqued.

It turned out that they were candies called "Delimon."

I'm not sure where the name came from. Maybe because of the lemon-y undertones of the candy. But since then, I'd go back and forth to that little store near Lolo's beach house and buy these candies. The tindera would carefully roll a phone directory page and put the delimon inside.

Haven't been to a sari-sari store nor seen delimon in my recent trips to Bicol. But next time I'm going there, this will definitely be part of the agenda.

Sweet Memories

Seeing this photo on-line just gave me so much feels.

These are the sweets that I grew up with. 

We'd either buy them at Unimart, at the Camp Crame commissary, and some of them were available at our neighbourhood sari-sari stores owned by Mommy Gallegos and Aling Ensa & Aling Leony.

Luckily, a lot of these are still available now. My super faves aren't available anymore, though. That's Bensons eclairs, Big Boy bubble gum, Bazzoka Joe with the free comic, and Eisbon Cola.

Hopefully, some company will bring them back.

Sweet (Tamarind) Memories

As a kid, there was a fruit snack that was always in our pantry.

It was in a white box with red print, there was a line drawing of a tamarind, and it had a small window where you can see the contents.

Inside, there were whole candied tamarinds. And when I say "whole," I do mean "whole." It had the stalks and seeds all intact. Imagine a regular tamarind fruit, then imagine it shelled, then candied.

The whole family liked eating it. From our grandparents, to our parents, to us, we'd finish boxes and boxes of this sweet and sour concoction.

As an adult, I've been looking for this red and white box of sweet tamarind, but could never seem to find it in supermarkets or even in local trade fairs.

That changed today.

It's the Lina's Sweet Tamarind of my childhood!

Found it in a pasalubong stop over on our way home from Batangas!

Haven't opened these yet, but I'm sure it'll be as good as it was during my childhood.

Like a what?

Like, like, like a Circus!

With flavours like Swirly Megapop, Toffee Apple and Raspberry Snowcone, this has to be good!

Yes! The Circus is coming to town.

Hey to Zed

On a recent run to The SM Store, there was this shelf in the Snack Exchange area that was filled with colourful packs of candies.

They caught my eye from afar because of the bright hues of the packs, and the even brighter contents peeking out of the transparent window.

After approaching the shelf, it turned out that these were sour, chewy candies under the brand "Zed."

Since this is a new brand for me, I ended up buying 2 of each kind. And boy, I'm glad that I did! These candies are awesome! The right combination of sweet and tart, and very pronounced fruity flavour! Especially this Fruit Salad variant.

Hey! This is going to be one of my new faves!

Sweet childhood

These 4 products - all neatly in a row on Shopee - pretty much defines my childhood.

Yes, they're the sweets that I'd buy in our neighbourhood sari-sari stores - owned by Aling Ensa and Mommy Gallegos. They would have Haw Flakes, Choc-Nut and Tarzan arranged neatly in bottles, which always made me smile.

Stay Fresh, on the other hand, was something I'd buy in our school canteen in Claret. It was my "dessert" after recess or lunch.

Then, when we'd go on a supermarket run at Hi-Top, Tops, Queen's or Unimart, we'd buy them by the pack. Yes, all 4 of them.

Now, because of this sighting, and post, I'm putting these 4 in my cart as well.

My cart is going to look sweet in a bit.

Skinny Dippy

It's always a thrill whenever I discover new gummy candies. After all, I've been a gummy fan even as a wee little boy.

My latest discovery, thanks to the snack haunt in Cubao, is this:

Yupi Dippy Gummy contains 2 parts in one pack. The first part is made up of skinny gummy fries covered in sugar. The second part is the sour dip which is nice and tart. Overall, the look their going for is fries and ketchup, but in gummy form.

A mash-up of gummy and fries. Count me in!

Haw's that?

While the Fat & Thin Jumbo Haw Flakes are still out-of-stock in SM Department Store, the Haw Flakes fan in me had to keep on looking and keep on trying.

That "trying" led me to an online store that sold the Tai Hing variety of Haw Flakes!

Cravings satisfied! (For now. I'm still on the look out for the Fat & Thin variety)

Charms, I'm sure...

After that toy throwback, I'm now having a "candy throwback" moment.

Suddenly, I find myself missing one of my go-to candies as a kid - Charms Blow Pop in Cherry!

During my last trip to the US last 2019, this was on my "must-hoard" list. About 1/8th of my huge suitcase was allotted for this pop. That stash probably last me a month. Harhar.

One thing's for sure, I got to find this pop and hoard it again soon!

Haw i’ve missed you

It’s been almost 3 months since i’ve last had these yummy snackers, and i’m SO glad that I was able to get some from the store today.

Hello again, Haw Flakes! Oh how i’ve missed you!

With a Twiz

I had the strangest dream.

And what made it even more strange is the fact that at my present age, I'm still capable of having dreams such as this.

The dream: I was walking around in a world made entirely of Twizzlers.

Maybe there's a commercial in there waiting to happen.

Or maybe I just need to look for and buy a pack of Twizzlers.

Yummy Gummy!

Whenever we visit Don Quixote, I'm always amazed at the range of Haribo gummy candies that they have.

My first recollection of Haribo was in Europe. And the product was Haribo Grapefruit. That's why when I'm in Japan, I always buy a pack. Not only do I like the texture, but the sour grapefruit flavor rates high in my book.

I should buy more packs of these and bring it home to Manila. It's quite rare to find this product back home.

Bursting with goodness!

Way, way before Sugus and Fruit tella, there was Starburst. In the US, Starburst was one of the most popular fruit chews and delivered what it promised - a burst of fruity goodness with every chew. I remember how Lolo Doring and Lola Pining would send us Starburst from the US, and it was such a thrill and joy whenever they did.

Unfortunately, Starburst isn't readily available in the Philippines. The only place I'd see them would be at S&R or in duty free stores in Subic. But that changed today when I found out that they also sold Starburst in Greenhills, and in different variants, too.

Today, I picked up a box of FaveREDs, which is a collection of their berry flavors.

Cherry and Fruit punch in one box! Gosh, my heart almost burst in joy when I found this!

Driving me crazy

In the realm of candy land, I must say that Skittles is at the top of the candy chain. It's one candy brand that I can't get enough of, and I'm thankful that they have enough variants keep me hooked on it.

Hands down, my favorite has to be the Wild Berry variant, followed by the original, then the tropical. The Skittles Sours are good, too, but you can't eat too many lest you end up with a bruised tongue.

While in Makati, I noticed this box of Skittles in a variant that I haven't seen before.

They're Skittles with two flavors - a different flavor for the coating and the center. I bought a pack to try it out, and yes, it's Skittles heaven! Each flavor is unique and the mix of flavors really takes it up a few notches higher.

Needless to say, my favorite in the bunch is the Cherry Lemonade Skittle. It's. The. Best. Ever.

Looks like I've found another Skittle variant that I'll go crazy for. 

Itching for it

The grocery store beside the school - the store formerly known as Popular Grocery and Micaray - never fails to yield surprises. They always have something interesting and new hidden in their shelves. Goodies that I don't find at SM Supermarket or at The Landmark.

Goodies like these little critters that I bought along with my usual stash of Vitamilk, Rebisco Crackers and Oishi Onion Rings:

Yes, they're called caterpillars. Not because they make your throat itchy, but because of their elongated shape and their rough texture.

First, I bought a pack to try it out. After eating the entire bag in a matter of minutes, I had to go back to the grocery to buy more. There's something deliciously weird about this candy. It's like a cross between a gummy candy and a marshmallow.

The candy is super soft and just a bit gooey. The mallow part has the right amount of sweetness and the jelly gives it a bit of tart. There are 3 flavors inside: orange, grape and I think the green one is apple. The grape one tastes like medicine, which is fine by me. For some strange reason, I like candies that taste like medicine.

They also have big bags of this candy available, but I try to buy the small ones just for portion control. I'm afraid I'll finish the big bag in a couple of minutes as well.

Just as I finished the small bag right after taking this photo.