I have a bizarre, infantile obsession with cotton candy, and I won't buy the kind that comes in bags at the video rental store. It has to be "fresh," meaning recently transformed from that artificial pink syrup the color of Pepto Bismol into fluffly stuff on a stick.

If you want a cotton candy machine for home use (because you just don't get out often enough to carnivals, circuses, and state fairs to get your fill), you either have to get the industrial kind that professional cotton candy makers use or buy a flimsy toy-like model that might produce, with lots of effort, something the size of a cottonball.

But here's something a little bit different - a machine that makes cotton candy at home, not from sugar syrup but from hard candies. You can use any kind of candy you like, though I'd probably stick with flavors that come close to authentic cotton candy flavor. But it would be fun to experiment with Jolly Ranchers, Japanese grapefruit flavored hard candies, and maybe coffee candy. Who would resist if you served it for dessert; it's less fatty than cupcakes.

The machine is available at the Japan Trend Shop for $159.