In accordance to our tradition that was started last year we began planning our fancy menu about two or three weeks before Valentine's day. One year I somehow got a free subscription for Food and Wine magazine, so we searched through all of them in hopes to find some candidates. We found many recipes, but it did not take long to narrow it down to a main course, salad, and dessert.
The menu would be meatloaf with a red wine glaze; arugula salad with feta, black olives, and dill; and finally tres leches cake with dolce de leche sauce.
Valentine's day morning we slept in (something we do not do often enough!) and made some wonderful blueberry pancakes for breakfast. When walking out to the dining room table to put the food out, I saw that my plate had a pot of beautiful mini-roses on it. The mini-roses are gorgeous, they are yellow with peach edging. I am excited about the chance to plant them outside and see if we can keep them alive, happy, and thriving.
The mini-roses are pictured below.
We made a shopping list and headed out. After a nice long time at the grocery store we finally made it home again. I quickly began working on the cake (since they suggested that it be made the night before...oops!). We set out a trey of sausage, cheese, crackers, and fruit. That was our lunch/snack till we could eat our feast.
After much cutting, chopping, playing in meat, stirring, reducing of sauces, and measuring we finally had our meal.
We sat down with a plate full of meatloaf, salad, and dessert. A wonderful glass of wine to go with the meal. And a Wallace and Gromit video playing. Good food, good movie, good man, good times!
Soon the meal was over and we decided that it might be fun to go dancing. So we changed and drove 45 minutes south to Floyd, VA to go contra dancing. It took awhile to find the actual dance hall, but once it was found we realized that many, Many, MANY other people had found that same hall. It was so packed in the dance hall that you could not turn around with out whacking someone with your elbow or kicking them in the leg. We stayed for many dances but still left early. On the way home we once again were playing the game of "how many deer can you spot" but this time all of the deer were laying dead beside the road. And the winner was 5!
Valentine's turned out wonderful. The food was great, the dancing was fun, and the following day as I was substituting at a school a dozen roses were delivered to the school for me. I feel like we have been celebrating all of February, and it has been wonderful.
The roses that were delivered at work, with the mini roses sitting at the base.
How lucky am I?
Now to think...what kind of menu should we have next year?
How lucky am I?
1 comment:
Well, I don't know, but whatever you decide on, if you keep writing about the wonderful food coming out of your kitchen, you are sure to have company!
Sounds like you had a fabulous Valentine's Day. And I'd say you are both lucky.
love,
sue
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