Ronata’s Jam [Candied Orange with Raspberries & Holiday Spices] — part of the Friendship Series

**FRIENDSHIP SERIES!** 

Meet Ronata; the inspiration for our December, finale, holiday offering in the Friendship Jam Series…

It was June – I just graduated from High School the previous week – itching for something to do, I see a notice for auditions for a cast member replacement and I figured, why not?  So I head down, audition – and I get it!  They immediately walk me down the hall, and all of a sudden I am just thrown into the thick of things, as I find myself onstage with the rest of the cast, who are in the middle of rehearsals!  The musical btw is Hair.  After a quick round of introductions, we go right into rehearsing and blocking a number where I’m supposed to take of my clothes – they wanted to see if I’d be ok it.  As I stood there, trying to figure out what to do, Ronata stood up, ripped off her blouse, and asked, ‘does that help?’  I laughed, stripped down to my underwear, and away we went – I looked over at her, she smiled, and immediately I WAS JUST FINE.

It has always been that way with Ronata and I… if one of us needed something, the other one always just seemed to provide it, NO QUESTIONS ASKED.  We grew incredibly close, incredibly fast.  If you were to ask any of my friends back then, they would have sworn that Ronata and I were destined to get married, settle down and have a family together.  Of course, that was before each of us came out to our friends and family, but that’s another story for another day.  Ronata is outgoing, gregarious, unapologetically fun, and is ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU.  She is beastly talented; is one of my all time favorite people to perform with, and she is one of the few people in my life who know where ALL OF THE BODIES ARE BURIED… ?  Even if we go a while without contact, whenever we do meet up again, or talk again, it is like no time has passed at all.  I am always at ease around her; I can always be myself with her… for me, she is the definition of a TRUE FRIEND.

When I asked Ronata about her favorite fruits and flavors, she had a list, and on that list was raspberries, and the candied orange slices that you find during the holidays, ‘anything that tastes like it’s Christmas time… when I heard that, I knew that Ronata needed to be my final flavor of the year and that her flavor needed to be the one to herald in the holidays.  Candying orange was easy; adding raspberries to the mix was inspired; and giving it a holiday jujzz was the perfect touch… a jam that celebrates not only the holidays, but someone rather special in my life… and that’s Ronata.