My absolute favorite thing about this Friday? I’m done with this:

I love doing editorial work. I hate that I have to do it in my free time, thus giving up huge chunks of said free time for the duration of a project. Dropping this off at UPS today was the best Friday Favorite. But I do have some other things to share with with you this week that might be a little more interesting.

Avocados are always a favorite. Two weeks ago we came home from Southern California with a small bag of rock-hard avocados from my Uncle’s orchard. They sat wrapped in a paper bag in our dining room until this week, when I took a peek and discovered they had reached their ideal stage of ripeness. (Oh, did you know you can ripen avocados in a paper bag? Works like a charm.) These were some of the best avocados I’ve ever had: vibrant yellow and green on the inside, with flesh that was smooth and unspeckled throughout. This was the last avocado. And it went into this salad:

Tuna and cannellini beans are a divine combination. When I don’t know what else to do for lunch, this salad makes an appearance. It’s easy, it relies on staples I always have in the pantry, and it can be doctored up in any way that makes me happy. Today, I diced the aforementioned avocado, and stirred in some lemon juice, roughly chopped cilantro, and a light sprinkling of salt. All those tasty things mingled in the refrigerator all morning, and by lunchtime, I had a cool and refreshing salad. This is a great weekday lunch because it’s filling but not heavy. This salad is my savior. And usually it’s all mine, since Sean isn’t convinced on the canned tuna front.

When all those avocados weren’t being tossed in salads, they were smeared on toasted slices of this bread: Sour Cheddar from Kelly’s French Pastry. If you’ve never been to Santa Cruz, you have likely never heard of Kelly’s French Pastry, so it’s a good thing I’m here to enlighten you. I worked at Kelly’s when I was in college, and I maintain that they make the best croissants in California. But it’s not just the croissants that make this place so special: Their cakes and tarts are works of art, their raspberry coconut scones feature in my dreams, and this Sour Cheddar bread. Well, there aren’t good enough words. I don’t visit Santa Cruz without picking up a loaf if I can help it. This bread is tender and chewy, and just sour enough to make itself noticed, but the best part are the chunks of melted cheese running through each loaf. Yes, melted cheese. Our loaf is nearly gone, and I have to stop myself from trying to hoard it, and just enjoy it already.

Another thing that’s been making me happy the last few mornings are my new coffee mugs. Sean and I didn’t have quite enough mugs to make it between dishwashing cycles, and I got tired of taking a dirty mug out and washing it every morning, so I finally just went and bought more. These are from Target, nothing special, but I really like them. They are smooth, and fit right into my hands. And they hold more coffee than they appear to, which is always good in my book.

Of course, I still love my old mugs. I started collecting these in college (seriously, it’s been a week for college reminiscence), and I love them. I’ve broken a few over the years, and it makes me so sad every time I do, because they are really hard to find now. These things are great. They’re retro and charming and fun, of course, but they are also huge! So I get lots of coffee. I know they will eventually all give up the ghost, and I’ll be sad. I have actually thought about starting a letter writing campaign to get the company to start making them again, I love them that much.

What are you loving this Friday?