Coffee, Pie and Jesus

My friend, Felicia and I happen to take the same route of public transportation as part of our morning commutes.  Although our destinations are quite different, we have 20 minutes together in the mornings before I get off at my stop and she stays on.  It makes our big, spread out city seem much more intimate and Urban when you can count on seeing a friend in an out-of-the-ordinary context.

We're in the same Tuesday night Bible study so yesterday morning, being a Tuesday, we chatted about that evening's upcoming group.  It was going to be a girls night- the ladies would be meeting at my house and our husbands at a different house.  We had never done this before- usually we all just meet as couples.  Felicia and I were sharing our excitement about our impending girl's night, and how a walk to Starbucks might be in order.  She then casually mentioned that she had really be craving coffee and pie.  Suddenly, there was nothing I wanted more on that rainy day than coffee and pie. I told her I would make it happen.

After school, I bought three pounds (yes, I went a little overboard) of big, juicy blackberries, found my aunt's famous pastry recipe and got busy.  A couple hours later, I had four lovely friends and the smell of coffee and blackberry pie filling my tiny house.  We talked for almost three hours.

There is something so rejuvenating about a girls night with coffee, pie and Jesus.  I feel so renewed today; so thankful for my Jesus and my beautiful smallgroup friends.  Our lives are each so different and we each face our own set of difficulties, but we are there for each other- there to remind one another of our value and the love Jesus has for each of us.  I think we all needed that last night.  The rain, coffee and pie made it that much sweeter.

The Mercato

One of my favorite ways to spend a Saturday morning is at the Little Italy Farmer's Market- my favorite farmer's market in town.  It's three blocks long, and has such a lovely view of the sailboats in the harbor.  Little Italy is already so charming, so once you add the farmer's market, it almost makes me feel like I'm on a trip!  It's picture perfect.

My lovely friend Shannon had the morning off, so we headed down to The Mercato bright and early for some coffee and wandering.  We stumbled upon a darling little coffee shop I had never heard of before called Pappalecco.  When we walked in, I immediately felt like I was back in Italy. Everyone who worked there was Italian, and all of their food was homemade.  The biscotti, cakes and gelato looked amazing- just like the little storefronts in Florence.  I can't wait to go back there again to try some gelato.  I was tempted to get some, but it was 8am so I resisted.  We got our latte's (made with almond milk!) and happily headed over to the market after being told "Grazie!" as we left the shop.



Yesterday was rainy, so today's weather was perfection.  The sky was bright blue with big, puffy clouds, and the pavement still looked a little damp.  A lot of people came to enjoy the vibrant colors of the market.



I snacked on a delicious cheese croissant.



Some farm-bred inspiration.



Shannon and I enjoying our coffees and croissants.

It was so refreshing to walk around the beautiful market and get to talk about life and community.  Seven years ago, Shannon was in 8th grade and I was her jr. high smallgroup leader at church.  Now, she's 19 and we both lead high school smallgroups!  She has great perspective on faith and life with God, and such a heart for people.  I am thankful for her!

My idea of a perfect morning!  I hope your weekend is full of beauty as well.

-Alicia

Vanilla Sugar

This time of year is party time around here.  My birthday is January 26th, my dad's is one week later on February 2nd, and then my husband, Dan's is February 7th!  Needless to say, we eat lots of cake within that two week span.  This year, I decided to make this cake for my birthday.  To be honest, I've never been much of a cake person, but lemon cake is a whole different story.  This cake was absolutely perfect.  So perfect that I am making it again for my dad's birthday tomorrow...

The frosting calls for seeds from two vanilla beans.  I figured birthdays are a great excuse to splurge on vanilla beans (they're like $5 each!)  It seemed wasteful to throw the empty pods away because they still smelled so delicious, so I sealed them in a jar with some sugar and ended up with lovely vanilla sugar after only a couple days!  A teaspoon of it makes for an unbelievable cup of coffee.  And a great way to get some extra mileage out of those pricey little vanilla beans.