Chapter 1 - Barbara's
In the bustling streets of New York City walks Arizona Robbins, an aspiring chef and restauranteur together with Teddy her best friend and business partner. They started off as college roommates and quickly became very close friends. Arizona finished with a degree in culinary arts while Teddy graduated with a business degree and is working at an international bank.
The duo decided to host a dinner party in their apartment. It was Alex and Jo who arrived first who brought wine to share. Followed by April, Matthew, and Andrew. Tim, Arizona's brother and Teddy's boyfriend, was the last to arrive due to his work as a deputy police chief.
Arizona served homemade pizza and pasta much to everyone's delight. The food was so mouthwatering and satisfying good that their friends are urging Arizona to open up her own restaurant. Arizona and Teddy locked eyes and at that moment they had a silent agreement. Its not the first time they though about it.
Hours went by and it was time for their friends to leave. After cleaning up, Arizona walked towards their balcony and sat on the bench. All she could think is "what if", is it really it possible to make her dream become reality? Arizona stayed outside to process. Eventually, she went inside and got herself ready for bed. Tomorrow is another day she thought.
At breakfast time, Teddy was attempting to make pancakes much to Tim's amusement. Arizona woke up and saw Teddy in the kitchen failing at pancakes and she could not keep her laugh in. Teddy gave her a pointed look and Arizona took over cooking breakfast before Teddy burns the apartment down.
While eating, they talked about what was said last night and came to the conclusion that they will do it. Teddy and Aizona resigned at their current jobs, pooled together their savings along with a generous donation from Tim, and started planning their very own restaurant called "Barbara's", named after Arizona and Tim's mother.
Months later, the restaurant is basically a building site. It's a fantastic space but right now it'd take an experienced eye to fully appreciate its potential. Arizona has been spending a lot of time in the restaurants kitchen to perfect her recipes.
Long strands of freshly made pasta hung to dry in the kitchen. Hundreds of pieces of it. Arizona toils over a pot of simmering tomato sauce and tastes it the way a sommelier tastes wine. Arizona carefully plates some of that fresh pasta with her sauce and passes it to Teddy to taste. After a big bite of pasta, Teddy was wide eyed on how good the dish tastes.
For Teddy, it was already perfect. Arizona knew that her dish was already very good but deep inside Arizona is not quite satisfied and is looking for inspiration to make her dishes better. So she talked to Teddy if she can get a time off from all the craziness and fly to Italy with the purpose of finding inspiration. Teddy agreed and assured her that she will take care of things while she was away but not before making her promise to comeback before the grand opening in two weeks time.
Arizona hurriedly left the restaurant and booked the earliest flight to Italy. Her suitcase is packed and is currently sitting in the departure area waiting for her flight to be called. After a few minutes, Arizona heard the announcement, "Flight 502 from New York to Italy is now boarding". Arizona got up from her seat and walked towards the aircraft.
I wonder what will happen in Italy…