Abigail M. Schilling

A million years ago I posted about this place I pass on my way to and from work called Scotty's Gifts / Lollicup TeaZone. It's also apparently called "Shaved Ice" which I noticed is printed on the north side of the building when I was trying to find a parking place after I was convinced by the internet to go check it out.

And check it out I did.

First of all, it's exactly as it sounds: it a gift store SLASH tea place. And, apparently, shaved ice place. Half of the store has teddy bears and cards and waxy chocolate and the other half is a rather dumpy counter with menu board. It was the kind of establishment run solely by high schoolers and only offering a quarter of the actual menu.

"Hi... I'd like..." I searched for eye contact. Finally Jessica and Tracy got the hint, looked me in the eye, and then made me feel guilty for demanding so much.

"This is my first time here," I excused myself. "I would like the..." and I began searching the menu for the fabled cherrykiss that I had read all about on the billboard-sized banner out front. Aha! It wasn't on the menu; it was a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper taped to the counter. I was too embarrassed by this point (high schoolers have so much power) so I couldn't even follow-through and use the actually words cherry and kiss and requested "this yogurt thing."

Jessica asked which flavor I wanted and I chose two fruit options from the list before she cut me off to explain (with blank stares) that the list wasn't what I was supposed to pick from. I was supposed to pick from the refrigerated glass case. Duh.

I chose pomegranate cause at that point I didn't care anymore (and it looked the most like real fruit).

And it sucked.

Have you ever had plain yogurt? Not vanilla but plain? That is what cherrykiss tasted like. Like frozen, plain yogurt. Not ice-cream-like frozen yogurt. Frozen, plain yogurt. So I tried to help it down by taking a bit of pomegranate's seeds with the yogurt.

I paid in change (I am poor) and quickly exited with my cherrykiss.

This is the crazy part: I totally got addicted. I finished it and I was sad. I wanted more. I wanted more gross plain frozen yogurt stuff. I've thought about it numerous times since then, probably because people keep finding my blog by search cherrykiss, and I've thought about getting it. And it's not just me. I talked to Amanda and Aaron a couple weeks ago and they had been given a sample at their local Lollicup (oh yes, it's a chain). They disliked it at first and then the next day found themselves disappointed that it was not yet available for purchase.

What is in this stuff? Seriously?