On the way to give my lecture to the stately and gifted women of the Northern Lake Co. Quilt Guild on Wednesday night, my dear friend Heather and I stopped for a dinner of sorts at the Something Oasis on I-94. There were strangely no French bistros at the Oasis or one-star Michelin restaurants, so I ate a McDonald’s hamburger for the first time in lots of years — pretty good! — and Heather got a slice of Sbarro’s pizza. We were walking out when Heather gasped. I jumped a foot. I thought she had seen a spider on me.
“Cotton Candy Blizzard?!” she said, looking at a banner next to the DQ on our right. Indeed, Dairy Queen was advertising a Cotton Candy Blizzard. Heather was a sitting duck. “I’m getting that,” she said, and promptly ordered a mini. The guy handed her a cup of ballet slipper-colored ice cream with multi-colored sprinkles. I had a bite and couldn’t believe how much it tasted like actual cotton candy. A remarkable achievement, Dairy Queen. I could see how it would be easy to eat a large quantity of this food.
When I got home I researched the Cotton Candy Blizzard so I could write about it from an expert’s point of view. It turns out the DQ Cotton Candy Blizzard is a Thing. A Major Thing. The flavor debuted years ago but was only an experiment, a limited-time offering. The public went nuts for it and, in a brilliant marketing move (I imagine) DQ snatched the thing away and made people visit their restaurants again and again in hopes of seeing the flavor on the menu again. Well, this year they did a “Fanniversary” celebration and asked their customers what favorite flavor they’d like to bring back. Cotton Candy won by a landslide.
The flavor is available for a limited time, so get out there and get’cher self one. Note that the medium-sized Cotton Candy Blizzard contains 890 calories. Enjoy!
Bethany
OH my I love cotton candy blizzards, but I have access to something even better. Cotton candy hard shell dipped custard cones. I get mine upside down in a dish. And it’s not to far for you to bring your friend Heather. Can I just say now that I have a friend Heather that belongs to the No. Lake County Quilt Guild, could they be one in the same?
Now back to that cotton candy custard. Just north of the Illinois border, about 3 1/2 miles only on Sheridan Rd is a smallish drive in restaurant called Shirl’s. They have unimaginable flavor concoctions using their creamy, silky custard. I only ever get cotton candy, even though it’s not on limited time offer, I just love it.
Oh and I’m joining the NLCQG, so hopefully they’ll invite you back sometime.
Bethany
Can I edit to say in Wisconsin, just north of the Illinois border. Just follow the lake shore north.