may twentieth: good friends, good food, good times

Like the title states above, today was a day to truly enjoy everything "good" about life. Being able to kick back and just relax with friends is honestly sounds so simple, but hardly something to be overlooked. What really tops the cake in this situation is the fact that I am able to always spontaneously hang out with friends that I made during middle school. Although the friends I've made at college also fill a special place in my heart, it's kind of comforting to know that I can return home and hold friendships with people that I've known for such a long time. That said, today's blog post will be image-heavy to keep up with the small memories made today. Eating and catching up with friends may sound so easy, but thinking about how everyone's busy worrying about their internships or potential job positions, it's nice to take a breather and speak mindless chatter while chewing on pizza.

I met up with two of my friends from middle school today, and they are two of the few people I still keep in contact with from my hometown. For identity protection purposes, I'll just give the endearing terms of "Friend A" and "Friend B" to describe them. I am most definitely the worst person in creating plans, which can be testified by any of my friends. Always wanting to do everything in a small amount of time causes me to become indecisive, and our outings tend to hit the spontaneous route and take us wherever the wind may. Once we met up today, my friends and I hit up Esposito's Pizza and Pasta, a pizzeria known for their sesame seed crust (which I must say is truly one of a kind). At first, the restaurant's modest interior had me questioning whether or not it would be good since I hadn't tried it before, but once the food appeared, I realized that their concentration was truly on the food. If the food is this good, what does it matter, right? Since they are known for their pizza, we ordered one off their signature sesame seed crust menu, which was the #2. The large pie was definitely a satisfactory amount to fill us up, and each of us paid around $8, which was a decent price for the size.

The #2 with "Plum tomato, garlic, basil, fresh mozzarella, homemade pesto, broccoli rabe & breaded chicken cutlet"

Afterwards, we planned to bring Friend A's little cousin to a fair near the neighborhood. Fairs always bring back a sense of nostalgia to me, because I remember how my mom would be driving past one and without a doubt, I would point out the cotton candy. As a result of my constant whining, my mom would end up parking at the fair, and buying me a cotton candy. The funniest part of this is that we wouldn't ride any of the rides. That would be it. Just a satisfied little girl with her cotton candy. With that heavy scent of nostalgia riding with me, I secretly hoped for a similar sense of childhood from this fair, and approached it with a giddy heart. 

What first approached us was this strange sign. What was homemade and why does "Momma" look terrifying to me? Also, Friend B's skirt has the nicest scalloped cut.

Upon entering the fairgrounds, we realized that the place hadn't opened yet. Since the sign had said 3 o' clock, we decided to wait a bit more since it was already half an hour past that. Maybe there were technical difficulties? We walked around the place despite the lack of carnival lights or clowns selling tickets. This should have been some indication to us for what was to come, but we were still in giddy hearts about being at a fair, and everything was still so fascinating.

The good ol' ice cream truck (that was still closed). Can you spot the Minion ice cream? 

Piplup! Definitely wanted to go for this.

A few of the rides pictured above.

By now, it had been well past an hour since we arrived to the fairgrounds, and there still was a lack of happy children or excited adults experiencing a taste of nostalgia. One of my friends felt tired and looked for somewhere to sit, and while talking to one of the fair workers, she found out that the fair wasn't opening till 6. Apparently the times were mixed up, but the sign could easily have been mixed up by any reader. Mutually agreeing that waiting till 6 would be wasting too much time, we dropped off Friend A's cousin at the house, and returned back on the road for another spontaneous outing. We picked up some coffee from Starbucks (thank you, my love Mr. Coffee). But it wouldn't be a spontaneous outing if we stopped at a common franchise, right? Feeling adventurous and a bit peckish, we stopped by a bakery in the same plaza called Abbate Bakery. The thing that will destroy me about this town is its abundance in delicious bakeries. Who can resist a sweet, flaky pastry, right? Feeling like a kid at a candy store, we allowed regular customers to go ahead of us since we couldn't decide on what pastry to devour with our drinks. 

My friends and I ogled at the amount of strawberries on just one cake. Look at that mountain!

Could have been a better shot if Friend B's hand hadn't swiftly shot right in.

A display of some beautiful looking cakes.

After few minutes of heavy debating, each of decided on a different type of pastry to try. Feeling a desire for the old, I went with a familiar flavor, which was the Napoleon. One of my friends went for a giant chunk of rainbow cookie with cannoli cream, while my other friend enjoyed a mini cheesecake topped with a strawberry. 

With sweet pastries in one hand, we finished up the day by just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Something I find quite nice is that despite not meeting as frequently as we used to, my friends and I are able to talk as if we never missed a beat in each other's lives. Anyways, closing this post and the night up in positive spirits.

Another day, another "hyej" jumped.