Posted in Ask Andi

This one's for Emilie. She asked how I came up with Taffy's name. Here's the answer.

I love taffy candy. Sometimes on rainy, cold winter evenings, our whole family makes taffy. It is such sticky fun, and the yelps from burnt fingers when pulling candy that isn't quite cooled rings through the kitchen. Taffy is made mostly from sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Mother and Luisa cook it on top of the cook stove until it boils awhile. They then pour the hot, runny candy into a flat pan, where it cools for a little bit. Then the fun begins. We all butter our hands and start pulling the taffy into long ropes. Yikes! It's hot! After we pull and pull and pull it (I usually get tired and let my brothers finish up), it's cut into pieces and wrapped in little papers to eat another time. Which is fine by me. By the time we're done, my belly is so full of warm taffy that I usually feel sick.
(This is real taffy candy)

I remember making taffy from the time I was little--before I had my own horse. Whenever we made taffy, I would tell my mother that I wanted a horse the color of this lovely, creamy candy. If I got a horse I would name her Taffy. On my sixth birthday I got my wish! A horse of my own. She was a newborn foal and the color of taffy candy, so I named her Taffy. Now she's more golden than creamy, but her mane and tail are still like taffy.
She looks just like the color of taffy candy, doesn't she?