Okay, I need to catch up on this. What I want to talk about right now are smarties and candy hearts and that which lies in between. Smarties are one of my favorite kinds of candy (one of my 100 favorite kinds of candy), and I love candy hearts as well. When I was younger, they used to make two main different kinds of conversation hearts… the kind that I called the “hard” kind because they were more like smarties, and the “soft” kind, which tasted a little different and whose edges were less sharp and determined. I loved the hard conversation hearts best, but luckily I also liked the soft kind, because about 6 or so years ago they seemed to have stopped making the hard kind.

The other day I got a bag of Brach’s conversation hearts from Target… yech. Disappointing! Instead of just the classic chalky taste, the had this weird citrusy zing to them – which is fine in certain kinds of candy, but I don’t want that in my hearts!

To make up for this holiday snacking catastrophe, someone at work has recently brought in bags of smarties-like conversational hearts. They are noticeably bigger than normal Smarties, and round shaped, but with a heart detailed in the middle, carrying various stereotypical ‘romantic’ messages.

Now, I distrust most conversational hearts that truely, in taste, belong in another genre of candy – such as… Skittles, Starburst, or M&M, or what have you. Just because you stamp words on it does not make it a true conversation heart. So at first I thought these would taste just like Smarties and just happen to have ‘Luv U’ and ‘Call Me’ on them.

Happily, not the case! In fact, they taste just like the old, hard candy hearts. I love it. I’m so happy. I want to eat them all. In a word where we elect and relect George W. Bush, find octupi in our gardens, and cherish the thought of nuking strangers, it’s good to find at least one thing is going right. Welcome back, hard candy hearts.