What I Did On Summer Vacation #2: Guacamole, Kabobs, Cotton Candy And Other Comfort Foods

Guacamole from Roots Market in Clarksville

The guacamole from Roots in Clarksville feels like the flavor of our summer.

It's pricey, but it's worth every penny because it is always delicious.  The chipotle version makes a nice variation, but we keep coming back to the plain guacamole with a bag of Nana's Cocina tortilla chips thrown in the cart as well.  Fresh, zesty, seriously-filling as a snack or a meal.

You can just dip the chips.  You can zest up even a quesadilla made with pedestrian tortillas and cheese.  You can throw a party from Roots' refrigerator with their guacamole, a Cava hummus, and some chips to accompany them.  The only key is that you press plastic wrap if you're putting some back in the fridge to keep the avocado from turning brown -- and that you keep modern guacamole out of your Old El Paso tacos if you're trying to recreate the 1970s.

On top of the guac, we picked up a few other items this summer to make life fun:

Cotton candy at Sweet Treats

• Cotton candy from the Sweet Treats stand in Columbia Mall.  My mother and aunt love cotton candy.  Sugar-drunk from a visit to the Jersey Shore, they took the position that you couldn't get great cotton candy around here.  So Mrs. HowChow took eight bags to my parents' house.  Instant fun to make plates with the four flavors, and the ladies conceded that the mall's candy was top notch.
• Comfort food at Maiwand Kabob.  We took tennis lessons at Cedar Lane Park, and we relished the ease of chicken kabobs, a gyro and the pumpkin appetizer at the Afghan restaurant in the Harper's Choice village center.  That's eating for the day, and the flavors truly make this one of my favorite restaurants in Howard County.
• Oysters at Wegmans.  They may not be your cup of tea, but a slurp of salt water can make an easy meal.  I picked up a dozen oysters at Wegmans after one of their seafood folks enticed me with samples of two types.  I got several of each and taste-tested with the '34 Act Gourmet.  They sold trays already opened, or you can get a knife and shuck them yourself.  I got my short, strong knife at Frank's Seafood in Jessup, which sells similarly-delicious oysters.

Oysters at Wegmans

Lemonade Cotton Candy At The Columbia Mall

You'll be hard-pressed to find better food in the Columbia Mall than the first-floor cotton candy and caramel popcorn stand just outside of the food court.

Last year, we had loved the fresh cotton candy when the stand was perched under the escalators near  the center of the mall.  Now, the stand has moved down the way and expanded.  Same great cotton candy, which you buy for $3 a bag or two bags for $5.  Each color is a different flavor.  Cotton candy is a simple pleasure, but it's worth celebrating when it's done well.

We'd thought the stand had been forced out by a bakery that appeared under the escalators.  But we found the new location on our most-recent visit and left with a bag of lemonade cotton candy.  It's an easy treat, and it's so good that you could serve some fluffs to guests.

I blanked on the name of the stand.  It is something simple.  So simple that I knew that I could remember it.  If anyone spots the name, can you post in below?

There Is Fresh Cotton Candy In The Columbia Mall

Cotton candy at the Columbia Mall

You can buy fresh cotton candy in the Columbia Mall -- along with other circus foods at a small cart in the center of the shopping area.

Look near the water feature in the center of the lower level -- near where they sometimes display automobiles.  We found a cart selling cotton candy right from the machine.  Fruit flavors, along with pistachio.  Mrs. HowChow had bought some earlier in the summer, and our second $3 bag was just as airy and sweet.  They're running a cotton candy machine at the stand, so it's fresh.

It's a quick treat.  But it's good enough that I'm trying to figure a way to serve it to friends this weekend.

(Update Sept. 2013:  They moved the cart a little closer to the food court after installing a cupcake bakery under the escalator near the water feature.  You can still buy great cotton candy.)