Tennessee Confections

I find that men over the age of thirty aren't the easiest to shop for. When it comes to my fiancé, my best guy friends or my brother, things are a little easier. I can buy them band T-shirts, gift cards, dress clothes or something cheesy like beer glasses.

With older men, things become increasingly more difficult. One reason is that men who are settled financially feel a little less guilty and responsible for purchases. A man comfortable in his career generally will buy something if he wants/needs it. But what do you get for the man who has everything? In addition, the older a man gets, the more he's set in his ways. Take my dad, for example. When my mother shops for dress shirts as a gift to him, she not only has to find the right size, but he insists on having button-down collars. That doesn't sound like a big request, but you try to find one that's not for old men or doesn't have skulls all over it. 

 

From Mike

 
I fell into this dilemma about a week ago when I debated on what to send my cousin, Mike. Mike is the coolest and he sent me a package from his hometown in Hawai'i. I wanted to send him something "Nashvilley", but what do you get a bachelor that he doesn't already have, that isn't country music related and isn't better than what he can already get on that fabulous island?


Thanks to Boss Man at work, who suggested GooGoo Clusters, I began traveling on the Tennessee candy path. When it comes to our state's goodies, no place is better to look than Cracker Barrel. Through the restraunt and country store, I discovered that Nashville is the home of the GooGoo and the Moon Pie is from Chattanooga. 

According to the website, the GooGoo Cluster was created in 1912 by the Standard Candy Company in Nashville in 1912. It is boasted to be the first combination candy bar. The Moon Pie, however, is considered a pastry and was made in 1917. After marshmallow cream came over from England, the treat was made to be sold to miners. According to NPR's story The Heavenly Appeal of MoonPies: Chocolate-Covered Snack Endures as a Southern Fixture, "In the 1950s, Big Bill Lister sang about them in "RC Cola and Moon Pie," but no one knows exactly why the soft drink and chocolate snack became famous together. The most popular theory: During the Depression, they were both cheap (a nickel a piece), and they came in bigger servings than their competitors. For a dime, a MoonPie and an RC Cola quickly became known as the workingman's lunch."

So, cousin Mike got a lot of GooGoos and Moon Pies.

If your guy's not looking for Tennessee treats, I have a couple of go-to gifts for my dad other daughters could steal. Poppycock, iTunes cards and cards by The Onion.

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