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Sc p! Celebrate National Ice Cream Month with a Scoop—and do it right. Story: Rheya Tanner
When I was kid, I was always so excited when the Lake County fair was in town. I’d beg my dad to take me for the day and play the games, see the animals, ride the rides, and enjoy a mountain of cotton candy to top it all off. Just kidding. I hated the fair. I was a 2000s kid—not exactly a peak time for fairs—and the half-dozen theme parks within driving distance made it seem downright boring by comparison. I don’t really care for cotton candy, either. But I do love cotton candy ice cream. In fact, it’s probably my most favorite ice cream flavor. It’s everything regular cotton candy aspires to be, with far more substance and a far better texture. Plus, the cold really adds something special, really brings out the subtle sugary tanginess in a way your traditional cotton candy can’t hold a candle to. (It would catch fire if it tried.) But because it’s not a particu-
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larly popular flavor—and because I’m an “adult” on a “diet” and can no longer justify eating so many dessert-flavored desserts—it’s gotten harder for me to get my carnival-spun fairy floss fix. Lucky for me, then, that there’s a fantastic local ice cream shop where I can get my hands on a crisp waffle cone stacked skyscraper-high with two scoops of the stuff. A staple of Winter Garden, Scoops has been around forever. What better place to get two summer staples rolled into one generous ice cream scooper? The shop also serves at least a dozen other flavors, from the most vanilla to the wackiest novelty flavors like “Superman,” and “Lil’ Blue Panda.” If you’ve never tried cotton candy, though, and it wouldn’t surprise me you haven’t, I recommend giving it a scoop this summer. In my completely unbiased opinion, not only is
July the absolute best time for ice cream—especially with it being National Ice Cream Month—it's also the most indulgent way to support a small business. Fair warning, though; you're gonna want to ask for extra napkins. Despite it being the best time for ice cream, July is also the drippiest time for ice cream. It was stormy and overcast the day I scooped up my cone, but it was still a race against the clock to keep the runoff from ruining my shirt. Another tip: don’t wear a white shirt on a day you’re going out for ice cream. Learn from my mistakes. Get just one scoop, rather than my impulsive and wildly irresponsible two, and maybe opt for a bowl if you’re not hankering for a cone, to keep a sticky deluge from coating your hands for the rest of the day. But hey, if you’re feeling impulsive and wildly irresponsible? Go for it—and good luck.
