Chapter 1: Delicious Activities
One cold second Saturday of January 2022, I met up with my childhood friends Sarah, James, and Henri at Pittsburgh's Perfect Parties client Julia Robison's house in Squirrel Hill. "Hi, guys!" I greeted my friends. "Hi, Angel!" Sarah greeted back. We ate waffles for breakfast and homemade ice cream for a snack. "I know what activities I want to do besides cooking," Julia told us. "What are they?" James asked. "I want to watch a few episodes of Chopped on the Food Network and make our own aprons before we cook anything," Julia explained to us. "I wonder what you are going to cook that sounds so yummy," Henri stated, licking his lips. "Well, Henri, Jennifer will be making Sleeping Bag Blondies, I will be making Strawberry Cream Floats, Sloan will be making Bananas Foster Crunch Mix, Erin will be making Rainbow Cupcakes, and Sasha will be making Marbled Orange Fudge," Julia replied. "From what I understand, you must really love food, Henri!" "I sure do, Julia," Henri happily stated. "So, Julia, how is college doing you?" James asked. "It's going fine, James," Julia replied. "We are asking you this because we are not used to you guys being in college," Sarah stated. "Do you get to see your friends very often?" "Of course I do, Sarah," Julia replied. "I bet that you have been friends with Jennifer, Sloan, Erin, and Sasha for a long time," I told Julia. "I have been friends with Sarah, James, and Henri for almost 20 years now!" "Wow, that's a long time!" Julia remarked. "Tell Julia where we met," Sarah told me. "Well, we met at the Natrona Heights Presbyterian Church where their parents had their wedding," I explained. "And, we have been best friends ever since then!" "I was wondering why you guys weren't at the New Year's event in Pittsburgh," Julia stated. "Well, we were visiting our parents in Gettysburg," Sarah explained. "We left right after we were done with the internship preview." "What are some of your favorite moments from high school, Julia?" James asked. "Well, I liked being honored at the annual honors banquet in high school," Julia explained. "We were honored at that type of banquet, too," Sarah explained. "I didn't want to eat any of the food there," Henri stated. "Even though it was just spaghetti and salad." "But, you eventually learned to like it, Henri," James pointed out. "We also like listening to Santana every weekend," I explained. "That's cool, Angel," Julia stated. "My favorite part of the week, however, was playing all of those new and different games," I continued. "Do you have a favorite game?" Julia asked me. "I would have to say that Two Truths and a Lie game," I replied. "Where you state 2 true things about yourself and 1 false thing about yourself." We then headed to Target in East Liberty to shop for everything that we needed for Julia's slumber party, including cloth aprons and colored markers for the craft and for the recipes: butter, sugar, packed brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, self-rising flour, chopped pecans, white frosting, food coloring, large marshmallows, miniature vanilla wafers, assorted sprinkles, mini honey bear-shaped crackers, heavy whipping cream, confectioners' sugar, frozen strawberries, lime juice, chilled carbonated water, vanilla ice cream, fresh strawberries, Honey Nut Chex, Cinnamon Chex, dried banana chips, ground cinnamon, banana extract, rum extract, white cake mix, paste food coloring, white baking chips, marshmallow creme and orange extract. After our session was over, Sarah, James, and Henri dropped me off at my mentor, Jenna's apartment in Point Breeze. "Thanks for a great day, everyone!" I thanked my friends. "You're welcome, Angel," Sarah replied. "Bye, guys!" "Bye!"