Friends and Fondant (Or: Look Ma! I'm being social!)

Tuesday, October 21, 2014



A few months ago Reuben and I attended the wedding of our friend Christian to his fiance, Gabriela.

It was a small, intimate wedding, and even though I hadn't met Gabriela much before it was clear that she brought a lot of life and spice into Christian's life.    I loved watching them together during the reception, and was glad to have been one of the few invited to celebrate with the happy couple.

Fast forward a few months later at our friend Tracy's house, where Gabriela and I finally had a chance to talk and get to know each other better.  

Me:  Blah blah, I like doing crafty things like cake decorating and knitting and sewing and things that make BIG messes with very little benefit to my everyday life!  Woo!
Her:  Hey, me too!
Me:  We should totally take a class together on these topics!
Her:  *Whips out her ipad*  Let's schedule something at this very moment!
Me:  <Thinks internally> Ohmygosh someone who actually GETS STUFF DONE and is PROACTIVE, I love this!   *Tries to restrain self from hugging Gabriela in glee, as that seems to be an I-just-met-you faux pas*

Which is how Reuben and I ended up at the newlywed's house the other weekend, for a mutual exchange of skills.   She  (being from Venezuela) makes authentic arepas like nobody's business.   I know how to make a quick-and-easy marshmallow fondant.  Both involve ingredients and big messes, which was perfect.  Let the crafty skill swapping commence!

I knew immediately that I adored this girl when I walked in and saw this on the counter:
















And then found out she made dinner for all of us too... including some plain chicken just for me so I'd have something to eat.






















And faster than you can say Chocolate-cake-with-sprinkles, I totally knew we'd get along.  Because not only is she gorgeous on the OUTSIDE, she's also a beautiful person on the inside, and I felt like I was spending the evening with Martha Stewart's younger, hipper, and much friendlier sister who happened to have the same Type-A perfectionist tendencies as me. 



See?  Love this girl!




















To make things even better, she whipped out some aprons for us to wear while getting our bake-a-thon on, which was good because the recipe I brought over for fondant starts with something akin to "Take a gallon of crisco and oil everything down that this stuff could possibly touch.   Hands, counter, bowl, small pets, your spouse...."    Because nothing says "Stuff is about to get REAL in this kitchen" like an apron.  It's like the housewife version of a hard hat.  



Me, rocking the kid's apron.  I mean, hello... it's PINK!




















As soon as they saw the aprons come out the boys retreated to the back porch to watch Youtube videos, smoke cigars, freeze their extremities off and talk about such manly topics as engines and financial investing and... I don't know... beer.  Whatever guys talk about when being manly.  Probably to scratch stuff, too.   And meanwhile Gaby and I proceeded to talk and bake and have lots of crafty fun together while discovering how much we had in common.  

The end result?  A delicious meal of arepas (and the knowledge of how to make them from scratch without burning down the house...in theory....), a bowl of yummy marshmallow fondant for crafting and cupcake decorating, and an amazing friend who I can't wait to spend more time with.   It's funny how some people you meet and end up connecting with immediately - she's definitely one of those types.  Just one more example of how some people come into your life at the very time you need them the most, and leave an instant impression.

This could be the start of a very beautiful.... and messy.... friendship.  
(Watch out boys, the aprons are coming out.)  



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