Molten on the inside with inches of dry, plain crust, why it's the Sandwich Toastie Maker, now over 40 years old and made world famous by Breville. Launched in 1974 they shifted over 400,000 'stacking sandwich' toasters in the first year alone. I'm sure if I could find stats, they surely by this point would have sold enough to stretch to the moon and back.

The toastie maker is such an institution that there are entire websites dedicated to facts, models and trivia. If you should wish to know th history behind the invention, that blog is where it's at.

In the summer there I had hinted that I was going to do a run of nostalgic food blog posts, Crispy Pancakes, Vienetta Slice, Vesta Curries and the like, but only got as far as this retro sweets post about Curious Candy, so call this my second instalment.

We had bacon & cheese toasties for tea tonight, made with butter on the outside.

How about these novelty toasters? Some double up as pancake or waffle makers too.

So what was your favourite toastie filling?

This is the first in a series of blog posts reminiscing about nostalgic foods, drinks and meals from the 1970s and 1980s.

For this post I enlisted some expert help, in Paul the owner of Bangor's classic, traditional sweet shop, Curious Candy. Michael & I had lots of fun exploring all the shelves the compact, but filed to the brim little shop in Bangor's Central Avenue holds.

As well as the nostalgic treats featured in this blog post, the shop has almost every jarred sweet you can imagine, plus a whole section of imported American Candy, like birthday cake flavoured M&Ms. If you don't live where I do, but want to buy any of the products featured, you can visit the Curious Candy online shop . So without further ado, on to the retro sweeties, which do you remember?

Pink shrimp, sort of foamy, remember them?

The classic, "get that for you Dad' sweet

What about this lot? Any of your favourites? Sherbet Pips, Fruit Salad, Alphabet Letters, Fish & Chips, Jazzies.

Bangor Rock, Midget Gems, Black Jacks, Floral Gums, Cherry Lips.

So, are there any I've missed that you have fond memories of munching? Let me know on Twitter @rudedoodle, or ask Curious Candy @curcansweets if he has any in stock. You can also connect with Curious Candy on their facebook.

This was my purchase today, along with super sour Warheads for Michael, as he's watched lots of YouTube challenges featuring them. If you've seen the Bean Boozle Challenge going around vloggers, and want to get your hands on a pack, Curious Candy will be getting a supply of the totally curious candy Jelly Belly beans this weekend.