Brace Yourself Honey Taffy

Paige is staying with us for the weekend, so rather than subject her to Alice's cooking I decided she and Julia could have an old-fashioned taffy pull. Now, this seems like fodder for a Brady episode, but to my knowledge they never did it. They were obviously too busy at hoedowns, dunk tanks and roaring 20's parties. Sugar, water, honey, corn starch and salt boiled to 256 degrees. A candy thermometer is the required equipment and Alice actually specifies its use and temp - surprising. She says it is more fun to make than it is to eat, but I beg to differ. Constantly stirring the pot (something I am good at) to reach "hard ball" stage is no fun. Julia and Paige did enjoy the "pull" part.

Episode Note: "Brace Yourself"  Marcia, Marcia, Marcia  is 'ugly, ugly, ugly' according to her when she gets braces. Despite reassurances from her family that she is still real groovy, her poor self-image is further damaged when Alan, her date for the school dance, cancels on her (something suddenly came up) and she is sure the braces are to blame. Mike, Alice and Greg each scurry to find her a new date, but to no avail. To make matters worse, she couldn't even get a radio signal to listen to the Rolling Stones like Lori Partridge. Then, just when all hope is lost, Alan shows up, with a mouth full of metal of his own - apparently the victim of a bicycle accident. He tells her 'you act real crazy sometimes Marcia but your still the grooviest looking girl in school'. With that "compliment" the two brace-faces head out on their date. Ahhh, the good old days when kids were more worried about their hardware, not their software.