I cannot even tell you about most of the hijinks and shenanigans my best friend Alix and I had from first through oh, twelfth grade. Yep, all the way through. We were permanently separated from being in the same homeroom class after third grade.

Darn that Mrs. Hall.

Some things I can tell you about:

I would set out walking to school, stop by her house to pick her up, and we’d stay there watching morning television and eating cereal. Then we’d make our way to school around 10:am – getting freaked out by Mr Bartnick, our music teacher, driving by very slowly in his hearse.

When we were still in the same home room, we would be separated to the opposite ends of the classroom. We developed a lip reading form of communication, and once, the classroom went quiet and everyone was looking at us. Mrs. Hall (heh, heh) asked, “are you girls finished?” to which I answered, “no” and turned back to Alix to keep talking.

Poor Mrs. Hall probably learned to never ask that question again.

Fast forward several years – Alix going through jaw surgery and me shoving mini peanut butter cups through her wired shut teeth.

The two of us carrying a huge pizza from the restaurant counter back to the table, and having it slide off onto the table.

Filling our other best friends locker full of packing peanuts, only to get caught by the shop teacher who told us we could leave it and give him our names, or empty it right then. I wanted to leave it, she wanted to empty it.

Having my boyfriend fix her mom’s dining room table that was broken during a rowdy party the night before. That party escalated quickly – there were way too many people there. Years later, her mom found out about the table…

Me “spending the night” at her house, and her “spending the night” at mine, when we really stayed out all night at the all ages dance club. Years later, my mom found out about this by reading it here today.

That’s about all I can tell you. The rest is classified and is whispered about between just the two of us, wide eyed and incredulous that we even did some of those things…

My dear friend recently celebrated a birthday, and we went out for dinner and cocktails. I brought her an edible gift – I made some oooh sooo good fudgy chocolatey truffles. Then frosted and decorated them like a bright birthday cake.

birthday cake truffles

4 ounces dark chocolate
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1-2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon agave
1 (7 ounce) package dried figs
1/2 cup raw cashews
8 ounces white chocolate (vegansweets baking chips)
food coloring (Seelect is vegan), optional
sprinkles and sanding sugars, optional 

In small saucepan over low heat, melt dark chocolate. In a small bowl, stir together cocoa powder, water and agave, forming a paste. In high speed blender or food processor, combine figs and cashews, blend until sticky and crumbly. Add cocoa paste and melted chocolate, blend until mixture forms a ball. Transfer to refrigerator to set/cool, 10 minutes.

Using a small spoon, scoop uniform size amounts of the mixture, roll into a ball and place on a baking sheet with parchment (parchment is useful later for the melted chocolate). Return to refrigerator to set.

In small saucepan over low heat, melt white chocolate. Remove truffle balls from fridge, and using a fork, dip each one in the melted chocolate, return to parchment to set (shorten setting time by returning to refrigerator).

I love you, Alix. Cheers, here’s to another *mumble mumble number* years!