Chapter 7: The Food Fest Slumber Party
One stormy third Saturday of June 2021, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri for a pre-party at the Pittsburgh's Perfect Parties office in Monroeville before Lauren Bennett's Food Fest Sleepover at her house in Cheswick. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. At the pre-party, there were the games of Taste Test with the pudding cups (which was one of the games for that night), Acceptance Speech, and Spinning Secrets. For snacks, we ate Microphone Treats, snacks named after '80s movies like Mystic Pizza Rolls, Pretty in Pink Lemonade, and Bill and Ted's Excellent Brownies, and brains made out of gelatin. We even constructed our own tents to nap in. Then, we headed back to Lauren's house for her slumber party. The room was decorated with balloon and paper chef hats, pictures of Lauren's favorite foods, a plain white apron, and more pictures of Lauren's favorite foods in circles. The music of Santana was also playing in the background. We began with decorating aprons, which Henri helped out with. All 5 of the girls designed their aprons to look like the five major food groups. Lauren decorated her apron with the fruit group, Emily decorated her apron with the vegetable group, India decorated her apron with the milk group, Juliet decorated her apron with the meat group, and Fiona decorated her apron with the grain group. Then, we each made a Friendship Cookbook, which James helped out with. The 5 girls each had a different recipe to try around the world. India's recipe was nachos from Mexico, Fiona's recipe was crepes from France, Juliet's recipe was muesli cereal from Switzerland, Emily's recipe was veggie wraps from the United States of America, and Lauren's recipe was fruit kebabs from Hawaii. James also supervised the next activity, which was a Taste Test featuring 5 different flavors of pudding cups, in which Emily won, as she identified the most flavors correctly without seeing or smelling. Then, we began cooking all the food for the party, including various types of pizza supervised by Henri, a chocolate fondue supervised by James, and chocolate chip cookies supervised by Sarah. We also made more food to eat in 2 games, which were the Food Face-Off featuring deli hoagies and salads supervised by Sarah, and the Recipe Scavenger Hunt featuring spaghetti and meatballs supervised by Henri. Before we knew it, it was time to eat all the food. Not to mention, the girls' pizzas looked colorful and unique. Lauren's pizza was Fruit Lovers, Emily's pizza was Vegetable Lovers, India's pizza was Cheese Lovers, Juliet's pizza was Meat Lovers, and Fiona's pizza was The Works. "Did you girls know that I will be baking a Sicilian pizza cake one of these days in the future?" Henri asked. "No, I didn't, Henri," Juliet replied. "I sure do love pizza!" Henri exclaimed, licking his lips. "And spaghetti, too!" "Yes, it's true," James pointed out. "And, I will be making a giant s'more cake one of these days, because s'mores are one of my favorite slumber party desserts." "I love s'mores, too, James," Lauren agreed. "I will probably be playing the Taste Test game again at the after-party in Plum because I also happen to love pudding," James stated. "I especially love the chocolate pudding because chocolate is my favorite flavor!" "The Food Fest Slumber Party is one that I look forward to every year because I love cooking and food, unlike all of the girly slumber parties that we have had so far in the year," Henri pointed out. "Yes, cooking, music, sports... any type of slumber party theme is good for us," James admitted. "Sports?" Lauren asked. "You know, like football and other fun games," James explained. "Heck, I even remember the one year that Henri and I couldn't get tickets to a football games, so we played our own game of football in the backyard." "Wow, that sounds like fun!" Lauren exclaimed. "If I were to eat those chocolate-covered marshmallows, then I would definitely need some graham crackers to eat to make them s'mores," James admitted. "Thanks for the extra-special hairstyle for tonight, Sarah," I told my best friend. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah pointed out. "Sarah and I go way back," I told Lauren. "She has always been styling my hair and painting my nails ever since the day that we first met." "Especially during one day in our early years, I braided her hair and painted her nails," Sarah stated. "Are you girls going to be making a special cake like the boys have been talking about?" Lauren asked. "Of course," I replied. "I will be making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich cake and Sarah will be making a giant cereal bowl cake." "Except I will be using yellow cake mix instead of chocolate cake mix because I like that better," Sarah pointed out. "We have decided to split up into different households because we all love doing different things," I explained to Lauren. After dinner, the girls elected to watch the Disney movie Ratatouille, which was about a young mouse who loved food and belonged to an aspiring young French chef. After Lauren's Food Fest Slumber Party was over, we headed to an apartment lobby in Plum Borough on the corners of Saltsburg Road and New Texas Road. We got to eat foods and do games and activities from other slumber parties for this year. We played an encore game of Taste Test in which James identified all the flavors of pudding correctly, Acceptance Speech from the Hollywood Glitz and Glam Sleepover, and Iron Toes from the Fear Factor Fun Sleepover. We also did manicures and pedicures, dressed up Barbie dolls, and played a game of Round Robin. For snacks, we ate Potato Patch Fries, fruit kebabs, and a sundae bar. "I think I know why we keep coming to Plum after that particular group of girls has a slumber party," I explained. "India told me it was because she lives here and she wants us to look after her cat, Frosty." "I didn't know India had a cat," Sarah pointed out. "It's okay because we all love cats so much!" "Let's not forget about last year's Food Fest Sleepover Rachel Luster telling us about her writing and acting out a play 2 summers ago here, but it was probably at the YMCA that she did that," I told everyone. "God only knows when we will go there next!" We then turned off the lights and headed to bed. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel!" Sarah replied. "Good night, guys!" "Good night!"