On Saturday, I had an impromptu dinner party.

I'd been itching to make the pasta frittata Joanna mentioned at A Cup of Jo, so I bought some pasta and ricotta and served that along with a big green salad (which Christine brought), and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Ben bartended and made mint juleps, and all in all, it was a really lovely, low-key night.

Thanks for coming, friends!

Happy Happy, Manoli!

{l-r: Manoli, me, Em}

This is Manoli.

I've known Manoli since we were fourteen, and he just had a birthday.

I'm a big Manoli fan for lots of reasons. Some of them are:

1. He doesn't know how to ride a bike. He wasn't interested when he was a little kid, and so he never learned.

2. His relationship with his family is inspiring. If Dewey and I are half as close as Manoli and his little brother Alex, we are doing really well.

3. Manoli always sees the best in everything. Both people and situations.

4. I am really nerdy, and all my friends are really nerdy, but Manoli takes being a nerd to a whole new level. He owns it, though. It's why we love him.

5. Manoli is one of the most trustworthy people I know. He will never, ever, let you down, and you can always depend on him to be there when you need him.

6. Manoli is the only friend who has actually lobbied for a birthday post. Two days after his birthday, we're on gchat, and he's all "hey Abbie, isn't it time you write up my birthday post? You're getting kind of late." He is shameless. But in a good way.

Happy Happy, Manoli!

I'm so glad you were born.

On Roses

I am feeling rather stressed right now.

It's all about silly stuff- job, apartment, money- you know, the usual.

In the long run, this stuff doesn't really matter that much. In some way or another, it will work out. It always does. Stressing out about it more than necessary isn't going to help anything at all.

So I'm not going to think about my stress when I don't need to. Instead, I'm going to think about roses. Here in New England, late spring is a glorious time- all the flowers are finally in bloom, the farmers markets are getting started, and there are roses everywhere. They smell wonderful, and look even better.

Right now, rather than dwelling on the things that are freaking me out, I choose to dwell on the roses.

I'll let you know how it goes.

You know what is ridiculous? How expensive iced coffee is. Somehow, I can get my mind around paying a markup for hot coffee, but paying for its iced counterpart just hurts my soul a little bit.

So I have taken to making my own cold-brewed coffee. It's so easy, and mixed with ice cubes and milk in a mason jar, it's the perfect way to start my day.

Teeny Tiny Pies

On Monday, one of the grad students in the lab where I work defended his dissertation. This is a really big deal (it's the final step in getting your PhD), and we always celebrate with a party afterwards. I volunteered to make a pie. I rolled out the dough* and prepared the filling, and when the blueberry pie was in the oven, I realized I still had some pie crust left over, so I made a couple of tiny strawberry pies in little pyrex bowls that my neighbor gave me.

The next morning, I ate one for breakfast. It was delicious. Then again, pie for breakfast always is.

*I used Martha Stewart's recipe. It was pretty good.

The other day, my neighbor put out a box with a sign on it.

It said "free mason jars."

I took six. They make me happy.

Someday, I'll live in a flat (it will be called a flat, not an apartment, because I'll be sophisticated like that) and ride my bike everywhere (I'll have a cute little helmet) and never leave dirty dishes in the sink, and I'll zip over to a local spot to meet my friends after work, and I'll have a balcony just like this one, where I'll drink my tea in the mornings and watch the world go by before heading off to my perfect little job.

I can't wait.

{Image from Apartment Therapy, of course}