ROASTED STRAWBERRY ROSE ICE CREAM SODA FLOATS.

Close your eyes. Do you remember when things felt like magic? Go back. Before Trump. Before this impenetrable knot under your left shoulder blade because you spend too many nights editing photos and writing until midnight. Before heartbreak and death. Back.
You are two. You toddle down the hallway, one pudgy sweet hand against the wooden wall, one hand on your belly. Breathe. Feel. You have no idea that anything is not possible. Somewhere, you hear “Dress You Up in My Love”, because that is all anyone listens to: Madonna’s second album, Like a Virgin, came out last year, in 1984, and there is nothing but her. Anything is possible and Madonna is life.

You continue down the hall to the living room. The girls are laughing—Ruby Joy. Jade Moon. The second generation of the Alive Tribe—the quasi-commune-cult your parents were in when you were born. So much expressing and releasing. So much rebirthing. So much blue eyeliner. So much Madonna. The girls are older, and you are their doll. They put lace gloves on you. And beads. They let you try on their mothers’ high heels. You giggle. You all giggle. They hold you. You are loved. Do you remember?

Of course you do. It may not have been Madonna, you may not have been two, and it is highly likely you may not have been in the Alive Tribe, but you most certainly have known the freedom of childhood. Yes. Yes. You remember.

Spring elicits this wildness in me, like a toddler stripped of everything except my desire for magic. Something in the heady mix of jasmine and rose that wafts down sidewalks, assuaging the piss and dog shit and human sadness that live on every street corner. Something in the earth’s belief in its own renewal. Something of the animal in me.

These ice cream soda floats come from that place of freedom. So take off your clothes, put on your beads and your heels and your lace gloves, jam some old school Madonna, and get your soda fountain ready.

First of all, let’s dispel any anxiety about making soda. It’s very simple. I promise. For this recipe, all you need is an oven and a blender. No special equipment required. If you have your own carbonating soda maker at home, great. If not, also great: All you’ll need is a bottle of sparkling or seltzer water.

And then there’s the rosewater. The first of the season strawberries. The ground vanilla bean. The honey. The cream.

Roasting the strawberries deepens their sweetness and flavor without making them too heavy handed, and rosewater brings the berries’ floral tones to life. Give the roasted berries a blitz with an extra dash of honey, set some puree aside and mix the rest with the seltzer. Boom: Soda done.

All that’s left is to add the ice cream of your choice. Don’t skimp. Get at it like a toddler would, all milk-breathed and possibility-fueled. This soda is your oyster. Swirl. Sip. Taste. Dance.