Almost every Friday or Saturday night in middle school, my friends and I would have slumber parties, and brownies were the main ingredient. At one point or another in the night my friends and I would gather around the island in my kitchen and bake brownies. The brownies that we made every time were Duncan Hines’ Family Style Double Fudge Brownies. Not only are the directions on the box but there are basically only three easy-to-do steps taken to make the brownies. The Duncan Hines brand is our favorite and the one we had all the time because we knew we always could depend on the brownies tasting great and satisfying our late night hunger. They were always soft and warm inside and out. The brownies had enough chocolate for us chocolate lovers but not too much to the point where we would be sick after the large number of brownies we had stuffed down.
During our time together, as we waited for the brownies to bake and then eating the brownies around the island in my kitchen, our most memorable conversations would take place. These were the conversations that I have remembered the most over any other conversation in my lifetime. These conversations brought more laughter and tears from laughter than I have ever and probably will ever experience. I have made my closest friends through these conversations waiting on the brownies. The most vivid night was the night before we received our letters from the high schools we applied to. We stayed up half the night talking about our future and recollecting on the amazing times we had spent together over the past nine years at our middle school. We promised that no matter where we ended up we would still continue our brownie ritual every once in a while.
These relationships that I have created with the help of the brownies are some of the most important ones in my life. The brownies have also not only shown me some of the amazing qualities of those girls that I have spent most of my life celebrating with but the relationship between us and the brownies. Brownies are considered a party food, which explains the outgoing personalities that my friends and I all contain. Each one of us are warm on the inside just like the brownies we make. We are friendly to each person we meet in life and attract people through our positive characteristics. This is similar to how brownies attract many through their gooey insides and other delicious traits. My friends and I are also extremely dependable. Brownies are dependable in the sense that they are always satisfying and taste delectable. However, the most important similarity between us and brownies is that when brownies are sliced into pieces they tend to break down and collapse. If my best friends and I were to be sliced apart, we would collapse. We are each other’s support system and keep each other put all together.
One Friday night we were out of brownie mix so my friends and I tried to test out a new and healthier food. We started eating grapes and started having something we call “grape wars”. “Grape wars” are when you stick the grape in between your jaw on either side of your mouth. The end of the grape with the opening is the side you place facing toward the entrance of your mouth. You then slam your jaw shut forcing grape juice to spray out. We began attacking each other with the grape juice. We would see who could get the biggest hit or whose juice would fly the farthest. We soon learned that the nights with grapes were not as fun as our nights making brownies. The grapes would leave the kitchen counter and ourselves sticky, our jaws would become locked after awhile, our conversations were shorter, and we were left hungry since we never really ate the grapes just sprayed the juice out of them.
Now that I have grown up and do not have slumber parties anymore, my younger sister and her friends have taken their place around the island in my kitchen. They have replaced my friends and I’s spot. They have started creating memories of their own with a food that describes their own relationship. What they have not found yet is that they will also remember those nights around the island for the rest of their lives. Spending that time sitting down around food allows the conversation to flow in any direction. In my experiences, food allows people to open up and become more comfortable with themselves and their surroundings. Food has allowed my relationships with my friends to flourish and go in many directions it would not travel otherwise. The times together allowed us to bond together and form the strong relationship that we have today. Now that we have all gone our separate ways, this winter break we will meet yet another time and spend time around the island table once again. We will share our stories from our time apart while we wait for the brownies to bake. We will spend the time opening up enough to allow the brownies to bring all of us close together again as if we have never been apart.
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