The Best Summer Treats
Summer is the time of year when teenagers get to stay up all night and sleep all day. Classes are over, and so are the days of school lunches consisting of mystery meat and cartons of milk.
One of the best things about summer is the never-ending supply of treats that only seem to pop up once the days start getting longer. Here are some of the treats that will be sorely missed once school is back in session and it starts getting cooler outside:
Funnel cake and cotton candy
If you’ve ever been to a carnival or visited your local boardwalk, hopefully, you’ve experienced one -or both- of these summer delicacies. Funnel cake is the piping hot treat every kid can hope to fight over with their siblings, and cotton candy is, well, pure sugar. It doesn’t get much better than feeling the pale pink candy disappear on your tongue as you wait in line to ride the Ferris wheel.
Lemonade
Sure, you could technically make this any time of the year, but there’s something special about homemade lemonade on a hot summer day. The real magic happens when you’re going for a walk and see the neighborhood kids setting up their first lemonade stand. The store-bought mix will never compare to a 50 cent cup of lemonade in a clear plastic cup.
S’mores
Summer evenings are full of mosquitos and cicadas, but they have one hidden gem: s’mores. Each step of making this dessert is filled with fun. We all remember the first time we accidentally charred our marshmallows and had to burn our fingers trying to salvage what’s left of the molten ingredient. It was always worth it when you first bite into the s’more.
Bits of melted chocolate mixed with gooey marshmallow, sandwiched between two crunchy graham crackers created the perfect ending to a summer night. Just remember, if you’re not covered in chocolate afterward, you did something wrong.
Snow Cones
Deciding on the name is only half of the battle. Whether you’re Team Snow Cone, or firmly believe in calling it shaved iced, you know the real struggle is choosing between flavors.
Some stands were accommodating and let you go halfsies, so you didn’t have to choose between blue raspberry and grape. You were also always too scared to ask what even went into tiger’s blood (hint: it’s strawberry, watermelon, and coconut) so you stayed away, opting for the flavors you recognized. After walking away with your treat in hand, you were in a race against the clock to finish the snowcone before you ended up covered in syrup.
Hot Dogs
Just because we don’t always know what goes in a hot dog doesn’t mean it’s not delicious. There’s something about getting your hot dog and then topping it however you like that makes them irresistible. Some people went for a simple ketchup-and-mustard combination, while others piled on chili, cheese, and relish until you couldn’t reasonably pick it up and take a bite. Pair one of these bad boys with a handful of chips and you’ve got a meal fit for a king.