Saturday, December 4, 2004

Brown Sugar Fudge

I found this poem in my Word documents while looking for another Christmas poem, and changed the words around a bit for my journal readers.  (Putting poems in this journal drives me nuts, because spacing and such is all messed up when you copy and paste.  That's why the last three lines are spaced by themselves!  Oh well, you get the meaning.)  

 A CHRISTMAS GREETING FOR MY J-LAND FRIENDS
© copyright December 17, 2003
Donna Wood
 

The normalcy of routine days
Helps all of us survive.
For otherwise, life's just a maze...
A fight to stay alive.
To read the items in the news
Would drive a soul insane:
Without some other, pleasant views,
We couldn't take the strain.
  

We seek out understanding folks
With humor bright and wry,
And make inane and useless jokes
While, somewhere, soldiers die.
We tend our gardens, cook our meals
And push the fear away
Full-knowing that the danger's real
And bombs might drop today.
  

I cling to everyday routine
And cherish it like gold
Ignoring threats that lie unseen
As I am growing old.
Life's a vapor,this is true,
A little puff of smoke.
I'm feeling just a little blue...
So please, tell me a joke!
  

The J-Land blogs we often read
Will help us all survive.
The laughs we share fulfill a need
And help the spirit thrive.
The friends I've found on AOL

Bring smiles, when skies are grey.
May all of you reap great rewards
On this next Christmas day!

 

Now, about brown sugar fudge:  My mom used to go into a frenzy of baking and candy-making, starting before Thanksgiving and not stopping until Christmas was over.  She made pink divinity, white divinity, several kinds of fudge, and my favorite:  Brown sugar fudge!  She'd set out pretty dishes with an assortment of these home-made goodies, all around the house.  And I'd sneak around and dig out every piece of Brown sugar  fudge in each container.  She probably thought there were a lot of people  who loved the stuff, the way it disappeared.  But I think I was the only one eating it.   Every year, I make at least one batch of Brown Sugar Fudge.  If I make more, I'll eat it all.  And my orthopedist would like me to keep my weight down as a favor to my mutilated knees.  Cliff says it's so sweet, it'll set your teeth on edge.  My daughter says it tastes too much like "pure brown sugar".  People at work have asked me to bring some so they can try it.  I oblige, knowing they won't like it.  "Too sweet," they say.    In recent years, some of my grandchildren have begun to share my fondness for the stuff... so what do I do?  I hide it from them!  Oh, I let them have a piece or two, but then I shove the regular chocolate Fantasy fudge in their faces to distract them.    There's just something about Brown Sugar fudge that takes me back to childhood instantly.  I'm a little girl again, Santa Clause is coming, and Mamma's lap is available any time I need comforting.  It's just a shame the stuff is so fattening.  Here's the recipe, but I warn you now, you won't like it.  I copied this direct from my mom's recipe card, and I love the way it's worded.  "... remove from fire".  Is that old-fashioned, or what?  

MY MAMA'S BROWN SUGAR FUDGE  

1 pound box brown sugar
2 large tablespoons white syrup
3/4 cup cream (or evaporated milk, but I like cream)
1/4 cup butter
  Cook slowly to soft ball stage.  Then remove from fire.  Add 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat till very thick.  Add nuts and pour in buttered pan.  Add a few marshmallows, if desired.  (I don't add marshmallows, but that's how my mom gave me the recipe)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am not the candy maker in my house. My husband and my son are blessed with that ability. My one friend tried teaching me how to make fudge. I asked her how long to boil it ? (She NEVER used a thermometer.) She told me to boil it until it "frog eyes".......I'll never forget that term and yes, I know what that means now. However, it didn't help me with my fudge making ability. Now I'll be thinking about brown sugar fudge for the rest of the day.<<<<<<<<sigh>>>>>>>>>Anne

Anonymous said...

O thank you for that recipe! I love brown sugar fudge but no one seemed to have the recipe. I have not had any since I was young!

Anonymous said...

Actually, the spacing gives emphasis--and heads the poem toward the form of a sonnet!
And I will have to try the fudge; I've never met anything too sweet for my tooth!
I make a candy that my grandmother, then mother made, date bar. It's no relation to the cookie-bar type version--it's sugar, and dates and black walnuts; milk and butter, all cooked, removed from the fire (what old recipes I actually have usually say that! or, "take a piece of lard the size of a hen's egg. . ."), stirred. I make it every year now that Mama's gone. Not too many people like it, either--so I have plenty for myself.
Recipe available!

Anonymous said...

I loved the poem. So very true. If you have problems with spacing, because when you hit enter it wants to double space, hold down the shift button when you hit enter and it will return you to the next line.

The fudge sounds great but I probably wouldn't like it if it's that sweet. I've never been a big fan of 'regular' fudge for that reason. :-) ---Robbie