Mmmm… Sugar

Now when you hear of cotton candy, you think of a fair, the circus, or something that would involve a group of children because cotton candy is usually associated with children. This same group of children will have a blast making the cotton candy that they will later eat. What you wouldn’t think of is a group of college kids having just as much fun making the same cotton candy, along with a gigantic mess.

Ryan, Angela, Heather, and I are sitting around the kitchen counter thinking about the dry atrocious heat of the day. Because we’re bored and there’s nothing to do, we decide to pull out the cotton candy machine from the place that it rests. For us, having to read directions is a complete bore, so we throw them across the room and figure out the matter at hand without any help. I pull the sugar out from its hiding place in the cabinet above the stove and begin to pour it into the spout and watch as the machine spins the sugar in circles. The motor of the machine makes loud obnoxious noises, letting us, the makers of the cotton candy, know that it needs more sugar added to it in order to function the proper way.

I watch in wonder as the stringy sugar is layered across the bowl, waiting to be swirled onto a paper cone. There are no cotton candy sticks in the tool-kit to gather the cotton candy on, so I become annoyed by having to roll a piece of paper into a cone. I spin the paper cone with one hand and twirl it around the center point of bowl to gather cotton candy. I find this process boring yet fun at the same time. As the machine gets louder we have to add more sugar to the spout, thereby making us dodge the excess sugar being flung out by the rapid spinning motion. This turns into a pain because I know that I will have to clean the floor later in the day. I wait ever so patiently to taste the sweetness of the fluffy ball at the end of the cone, and taste the sugar as it melts in my mouth. Another person takes over and starts to make a cone of-their-own while I indulge in the sweetness of the cotton candy ball I have successfully made.

Stray stands of sugar float above our heads onto everything that is around. The counter, the stereo, the phone, the stove, the floor, and of course, the heads and bodies of the fellow cotton candy makers are covered with this slight sugar coating. All the while this is making me mad because I know that my other roommates aren’t going to clean it up, and I will be stuck with the clean up job all to myself. We want to find out what the sugar would feel like on our skin, so we add more sugar into the spout and feel the sting of hot sugar being flung across our hands. The feeling is quite disturbing because it stings a bit and is a little hot, but it is soon forgotten by the flying cotton candy.

We laugh at how the stray cotton candy is sticking to the ceiling and seeming like cobwebs hanging down from the walls. Because we have to go back to class, we try cleaning up the mess that we made, however the sugar is stuck to everything and the floor doesn’t want to let it go. We have to use wet paper towels and a broom to try and clean it up which makes me mad because I didn’t think cotton candy could be such a hassle. The cotton candy bowl is lined with crystal from the sugar and it takes some work to get it off, but we manage to wedge it loose and eat the crystal piece by broken piece. The crystal tastes just like the rock pops (the lollypop that is made of sugar rock crystals). My frustration sets in when it takes a while to clean the tools we were using to make the cotton candy, but I eventually get over the frustration I feel and get back to work on the cleaning at hand so that I can make it to class on time.

Once in class, I reflect on the day and realize that making cotton candy is like taking care of a group of small children, it can be fun at times and frustrating at others. I also realize that if I make cotton candy again, it shall be done outside so the mess won’t be half as bad as it was earlier this day.