update

Alas, the charger was not found and I had to buy a new one. But it came quickly and my phone is now charged and back in action. Yay!

For my secret admirer Ellen: I feel we have not been cooking as much since we moved. The kitchen is smaller, and I am busier. Who knows? We did have a very good dinner this week. R gets the Weeknight Kitchen e-newsletter from The Splendid Table. One recipe we received in August was for "Fettuccine with Tomatoes, Basil and Crisp Bread Crumbs". We have made it twice now, most recently a few days ago, and it is super good. I can't find the recipe online, but it is really easy and we don't usually follow it exactly anyway. Basically you make a balsamic vinaigrette, drop some red and yellow cherry tomatoes in it (or just red, or chopped up full size tomatoes) and let it all sit together for awhile. Cook some pasta (I think we've actually always used linguine) and toast some coarse, fresh bread crumbs. Chop about a half cup of fresh basil into long, thin strips. When your pasta is done put it in a serving bowl, pour the tomatoes and vinaigrette over it and stir it up. Then top with the bread crumbs and basil. Yum yum yum.

The second tasty thing we have made lately is the most tasty ice cream ever. This Roasted Plumricot Ice Cream from the Chicago Tribune magazine. If you have the means of making ice cream, make this. It is the most tasty, flavorful ice cream ever. Also, double the recipe. This is not enough! I didn't bake the ginger wafers that go with it, but I did buy some crispy ginger cookies which we ate with the ice cream and it was all sooooo good. I am so sad there is only like 1 serving left.

The other fun thing we did lately was go to a jazz festival yesterday. It was free! It was in the neighborhood! We saw a jazz quartet that was pretty good, some Latin jazz which is always fun, but the most awesome was this guy, Orbert Davis, and his quintet. Soooooo good. Orbert is a trumpet player and he had a great saxophonist and pianist too. It was amazing. R called it one of the top random live music performances he has seen. After that we walked slowly home, stopped for some egg rolls, and then ate the aforementioned best ice cream ever. It was a great Saturday.