When I was about six years old, my mother, sisters, and I moved from Aberdeen, Mississippi to Los Angeles, California. My father stayed in the south and the twins and I would visit him in the summer. I don’t know if you’ve been to north Mississippi in July, but it’s very hot, humid, and full of bugs.
We didn’t have a pool, but someone (either my father or grandmother) joined the country club so we could swim in theirs. I remember two things very clearly: That the shallow pool (for babies) had a large mural of Ariel from The Little Mermaid painted on the floor – is it still called a “mural” when it’s on the floor? – and I remember that the concession booth had frozen candy bars.
My standard stand order for concessions was a frozen Twix. I liked how it snapped. Instead of long chains of sticky caramel and crumbly biscuits, freezing kept it tidy – the halved giblets looked geological rather than edible, and I appreciated the clean lines. Most importantly, the candy bar was cold, and eating anything that wasn’t cold while standing in the blazing Mississippi sun was very uncomfortable.
I don’t live in the south anymore, but it seems like it’s getting unbearably hot everywhere now, at least for a couple of weeks a year. Filling the freezer with ice cream and popsicles can help fight the heat, but few people fill their freezer with candy bars, and I think they should.
A frozen mini candy bar provides a cool respite on a hot day, but isn’t as strenuous as an ice cream sandwich, for example. I would probably feel sick if I had an ice cream sandwich every time I work up an uncomfortable sweat, but a frozen mini candy bar satisfies the cravings for cool treats that pop up several times a day without making me feel like shit.
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I don’t have kids, but I expect they would enjoy frozen mini candy bars too, especially after a few hours in the pool or maybe as a reward for doing a summer job.
Because of their small size, there is no reason not to keep a stash of mini candy bars in your freezer. Buy one sort of bag from your favorite candy supplier, toss that bag in the freezer (or put it in a plastic container for cleanliness), then eat it as needed. I recommend buying a bag with Twix. I still like the way it snaps.
