If you know my family, you know that many of us have serious sweet tooths (Note: would that be "sweet teeth?"). My dad used to swipe Krispy Kreme doughnuts as a kid from the back of the delivery van; he's still a dessert-oriented guy. While Dad has always preferred highbrow sweets like cake and such (that disgusting Claxton fruitcake abomination notwithstanding), TJS, EWS and I grew up eating junk candy: Rain-blo bubble gum balls, Lik-Em-Aid, Twizzlers, Nerds, Jolly Ranchers, Jelly Bellies, Charms Blow Pops, Laffy Taffy, and so forth.

Imagine my surprise and pleasure, then, at discovering that our new home is just down the road from the Ferrara Pan Candy factory, across the freeway. While relatively few people recognize that name, almost everybody's enjoyed Jawbreakers, Lemonheads, and--best of all--Atomic Fireballs. And they make them a mile and a half from my door!

When I was younger, I lived across the street from a kid whose family was from Pittsburgh. He told me once about his family's visit to Hershey, Pennsylvania, home of the chocolate company: "You walk down the street and it smells like chocolate in the air," he said. Frankly, I never really thought that sounded all that good, because Hershey's chocolate has always been a second-class sweet for me: preferable only to the lemon and lime flavors of the hard candy in the bottom of the Halloween candy bag. I always preferred fruity candy to chocolate stuff.

Now, there are mornings, as I'm sitting in traffic on the Eisenhower onramp, when the delicate bouquet of Lemonheads comes stealing into the car. Mmm-mmm. I'll take the savor of sour lemon over a squirt of Hershey anyday.