Nick had always loved cotton candy and joked about buying a cotton candy machine with his first teacher paycheck. That didn’t happen, so Kate gave Nick a small cotton candy machine for his birthday, his first birthday they were together as a couple, thinking it was a great present. Neither of us wanted to eat the stuff with artificial colors and flavors, so we began experimenting with flavors that we’d like to eat, using no artificial dyes. It was all just for fun in our kitchen.