Listing Through Life

My daughter’s birthday was this week. We bought her a cell phone — her first one. It’s a Tracfone; one where she pays for the minutes with her own money so she can learn the discipline of limiting her phone time. She was so happy that she cried. Then she gave me an unsolicited hug and told me she loved me.

Anyway (and here’s the part of this story that I wouldn’t care to try to explain to a visitor from the 19th century) my daughter spent the rest of the evening calling her friends on our land line to tell them she had a cell phone, then hanging up the land line and texting them on her cell phone even though the only topic of conversation was the fact that she now had a cell phone — something that could be far more thoroughly discussed on the land line.

And … we were informed that there is now a group of teenage girls scattered across northeastern Illinois who love us and think we’re the coolest parents ever.

So we’ve got that going for us anyway, which is nice.

As you know by now, I’m willing to try pretty much any food. I just don’t end up liking most of it. My tastes are simple — there’s not much I like better than a good ham and cheese sandwich.

With that in mind, I googled “best ham and cheese sandwich Chicagoland.” Instead of the restaurant I expected, I got a recipe — Rachael Ray’s Ultimate Ham and Cheese Sandwich. It looked pretty good, but when I saw that it involved cooking … Then my wonderful wife wandered into the room and said that, if I printed off the recipe, she’d make the sandwich.

And so she did. She even made the “greens” with raspberry dressing.

The sandwich wasn’t bad, but I wouldn’t call it “ultimate.” I’d rate it somewhere between “I’ll eat it, but I’d never order it,” and “Can I have a second helping, please?” In other words, a 3.5. I thought the salad dressing was underwhelming. To be fair, my wife thought it was the best part of the meal.

The search continues.