Love Never Fails... and neither do Jen's baked goods

Friday night we went to dinner with a friend of Jen’s and her husband. This friend, although originally from Clearwater where Jen knows her from, has lived in Park Slope, Brooklyn for about ten years. Years ago, when I first moved here, she invited me out to dinner to make sure I was adjusting to NYC alright. So we’ve been trying to arrange an outing so we could all catch up but it’s obviously taken us a few months to make it happen.

At dinner at Mariella, an Italian restaurant on 6^th Ave at 13^th St. that I’ve been wanting to try, we sat outside where we could enjoy one of the last few mild nights of the year. While talking, we realized that Jen’s friend teaches at the middle school where our church meets each Sunday. Small world! It seems like a good school, and she agreed that it was. The auditorium where we actually worship is decked in Broadway-themed art made by the students and serves as a testament to the school’s great theater and dance programs.

 We really like our new church. It’s nice to have a good one in our neighborhood, as everyone should. (Too bad Jen’s friend is actively Jewish and her husband possibly agnostic or we could bring them along.) A few weeks ago, a letter artist who goes to the church bought the rights to an advertising billboard at the bus stop outside our church. He drew this beautiful sign (pic) that says “Love Never Fails” and that someone will be at the bus stop every day at 8am to pray with whoever needs it. It’s a pretty creative way to reach out to the neighborhood.

Sunday right after and right outside of church at the market we picked up some dahlias, Jen’s newest favorite flower. Then Jen baked some mean cupcakes for her friend’s birthday that were coffee flavored with a butter-whipped, Baileys ganache. Lucky for me she made too much frosting.  I brought some to work today (all the ugly ones) and they were a big hit.