Which food, when you eat it, instantly transports you to childhood?

For me Salt Water Taffy from the Jersey Shore instantly transports me back to being a little kid. We lived on Long Island but my dads Uncle Bob and Aunt Kay lived on the Jersey Shore.  They lived on a block that lead directly to a private beach, only residents and their guests were allowed on.  There were no party houses like you see on Jersey Shore – just regular houses with families.   Uncle Bob and Aunt Kay also had a house on Long Island and would just stay at the Long Island house whenever someone in the family wanted to use the house for a week or weekend.

The house had a master bedroom and two smaller bedrooms. The front yard was sand, as was everyone else’s.  It was about a 20 minute ride to the famous boardwalk. It might have been quicker but as a child it seemed to take forever.  I always wanted to get taffy as soon as we got on the boardwalk. It was so chewy and sweet. We would buy a whole box of assorted taffy at a time. I remember the pink was my favorite, although I’m not sure what flavor it would have been… maybe strawberry or cotton candy?

I also loved playing skee-ball.  I never got anything good with all the tickets I won but I still loved playing.  My mom would always give me tips and tricks to improve my skill.

I remember one year Uncle Bob and Aunt Kay had a big family reunion at the house. All the relatives were there who I rarely saw.  One group was going to go out claming, another was going to go to the boardwalk and another was going to sit around and play cards.  My older cousins volunteered to take me with them to the boardwalk so my parents could stay with the adults and play cards.   We went on a ton of rides and played games. They even made sure I ate some dinner ( my parents had given them money). We didn’t get back until late and my parents were sitting in their car with my aunt waiting for us. That was before cell phones so they couldn’t call us.  Turns out everyone else had went home, or to hotels for the night  and everyone staying at the house had went to bed so my parents and Aunt had basically been kicked out! Luckily my parents weren’t mad at my cousins for keeping me out so late – they were just glad we had a good time!

The Sky Ride which kinda looks like a ski lift always scared the crap out of me, but it was the fastest way to get from one end of the boardwalk to the other.

 

Everytime I smell Salt Water Taffy I can imagine myself enjoying these rides!