During our kick ass trip to Sydney, we stumbled upon perhaps the greatest creation known to man?it makes babies laugh, immigrants employed and grown women cry, ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to the D I Y Fairy Floss machine. It was at an Asian arcade in a strip mall that I believe is called Capitol Square, although I could be totally off. My sense of direction is about as good a belligerent monkey with a bottle of whiskey. So for those non-Aussies out there, fairy floss is also known as cotton candy or candy floss. Making it from scratch is no easy process. I saw it once or twice in culinary school, where they would heat up sugar to a certain point, then dip a utensil in it and shake it vigorously over a stainless steel bowl, so the sugar would stretch and turn to floss. According to The Food Timeline, historically the process was so difficult, it was expensive and only the rich were able to sample the spun sugar. It wasn’t until 1897 that the machine used today was invented by W.J. Morrison and J.C. Wharton, which relied on centrifugal force to spin the heated sugar into floss. It was so easy to use, it became a popular fair food. Thus the masses were introduced to cotton candy. Whoa. I know. Sometimes I actually know stuff. As a kid, I used to watch them make it at carnivals, the giant circular vat with cottony candy appearing out of nowhere, the carnie twisting the cone to wind the floss around and around, I was mesmerized by this process. So to be able to do it myself for the small price of $2? Hell yeah. Bring it. They had five flavors of fairy floss to pick from, and I went for blue raspberry. But at this point, the flavor didn?t really matter…I was in it for the thrill of the ride.
So I poured the sugar into the center of the machine, added my money, and hit the start button.
Immediately, the machine started spinning while playing a bouncing version of ?When the Saints?. I barely had time to grab my official fairy floss cone (which was really a stick with some paper on it) when blue bits of heaven started appearing on the sides of the machine like little clouds. Happy little sugar filled clouds. ?Use the stick! Use the stick!? Adam screamed at me over the music. That?s when I remembered I had a mission: to tame this wild mass of happy clouds.
I set to work, expertly spinning the stick at certain points to assure even displacement of the fairy floss. I guess I’m just a natural at gathering the most empty calories possible.
I started to relax with the process, singing along with the music while doing a little shimmy AND twisting the cotton candy on the stick. I was a multi-tasking queen, and I was hot, baby. On fire even. [youtube]M5jTGX93ZXM[/youtube] And then, like a slap in the face, it was over. I was left with a handful of blue fairy floss, but I felt like I had just won the lottery. I haven?t been that happy with life since the day I got married almost a year ago. It was THAT GOOD. Have you ever seen a happier gal? I sure haven’t.
Anyone know where I can a nice big one of my own? Better yet, anyone want to buy one for me? ~LTG
