Just popping in on a breezy evening to tell you about two wonderful dining experiences I’ve had recently, because lord knows food and friends feed the soul, and mine is currently feeling pleasantly full.

Last night Ross and I had our first dinner guest over to the apartment since the acquisition of our third and fourth chairs for the dining table — which was convenient because it meant everyone had a place to plant themselves while we consumed prodigious bowlfuls of a very successful rendition of Hainanese Chicken Rice. I could tell you that we made the meal in a manner vaguely resembling the recipe shown on that page, but that would be a big fat lie, and if I were to tell you the strict truth then the words “rotisserie chicken from Shaws” and “chicken rice seasoning in a bottle” might be involved. I was, however, extremely proud of the accompanying soup I made — basically a clear chicken broth with vegetables in it, but its flavors were given an unexpected shot of clarity thanks to the addition of three large grains of coriander and ginger salt from Christina’s spice shop. Salty and fresh. I could drink that soup every day.

The elegant CT, whose perfectly shaped eyebrows I envied all evening, joined us for dinner and a delightful conversation, the major topic of which I will not divulge because if I did it would be a betrayal of confidence and terribly rude and she would probably become my mortal enemy for life and who could blame her? So all I will say is that it was about SYOB SYOB SYOB.

(That, my friends, is code. Highly secret code that will take you long years of computational training to decipher.)

The other gustatory revalation I had was lunch with Cathie this afternoon, which if I am to be honest I was a little nervous about. Cathie is not only one of the most brilliant teachers I have ever had, she’s also someone I’ve secretly wanted to be friends with ever since she opened her mouth in the first minute of my first class at Simmons, because she’s incredibly smart, very funny, and completely fearless. In fact, I think she totally rocks. But she also presents as a somewhat intimidating personality and it’s not easy to feel sure about whether or not she actually enjoys your company. Plus, we’d never had lunch alone together before, I haven’t really spoken to her since I graduated, and I knew I’d probably have to talk about teaching at least a little bit, as well as address the question of what I think is going to take its place in the grand scheme of my life. But I wore my dragonfly earrings for good luck, and they must have worked because we had a long, lovely lunch over Thai food and beers at Brown Sugar. My next goal is to get her drunk enough to give a piano recital (she’s taking lessons! Go Cathie!). Think that’s doable?

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Update on the Ongoing Crusade to Be A Useful Person: I talked to someone from here today and it looks like when I get back from the road-trip I’m going to add yet another volunteer job to my life — this time working to organize campus book drives at area universities to raise money for international literacy projects. It’s not as glamorous as direct-service work, but on the plus side, I’ll get to boss people around, which is always fun. (Wait, did I say “boss people around?” Just kidding. I meant “faciliate volunteer committee meetings.”) And if that wasn’t enough, I also got an email from someone at a hospice center today telling me that she’s going to run a training series in Charlestown this fall (I wrote to her a few months ago because I wanted to volunteer, but their training sessions were too far out of Boston) — and am I still interested?

Yes. Yes, I am still interested. I am also interested in taking a hip-hop class and going back to choir next month and learning Portuguese and occasionally hanging out with my husband, but god help me, I am still interested. Jenn, this is all your fault.

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In my beginning I find my end; a note on food to close this entry because I’m feeling more than just emotional fullness, thanks to a luscious treat Ross and I just made ourselves. I just want to you know, so you can be dreaming of it, that the next time you come over here for dinner, you are going to receive for dessert a hot, fresh shot of espresso poured over two big scoops of good vanilla ice-cream.

Which in my opinion is something that is very, very good for the soul.