Happy Valentines Day, Sort Of

Today has been a day rich in reflections on the meaning of Valentine’s Day in BlogWorld. I was particularly taken with these thoughts by The Yarn Harlot, who dazzles me with her insights and terrific writing.

I had the idea a week or so ago as to how we might celebrate Valentine’s Day at home, which is a darned good thing since the roads are covered in glare ice over 6" of snow, and our car is completely plowed in. A good night to stay home.

My plan was that Berry’s Dad (who is a fabulous cook, and who makes dinner every night anyway) would come up with a special menu for a Valentine’s Day Eve Dinner; my job would be to set the table in the parlor and make a nice flower arrangement. (Note: we have a perfectly good dining room, but dinner in the parlor is something very special, involving a pretty little antique card table, a special tablecloth, and an unusual setting for a celebratory meal).

So I got all dressed up. That is, my special tight jeans and a necklace and earrings with the turtleneck and fleece jacket which are de rigeur on these very cold days. I took a shower and got all spruced up, even putting on makeup and eye liner (which I haven’t worn since high school—thank you PeaceBang!)]

When I sauntered downstairs, Berry’s Dad greeted me in the kitchen with the terse words “Dog puke.” He was too busy with dinner to take care of the after-effects of Berry eating his dinner too fast. So there I am, all fancy in my eyeliner and tight jeans, crawling around on the kitchen floor cleaning up dog puke. I will spare you the details—pet owners understand these things.

The menu:

Appetizer course: martinis (made with Tanqueray Ten, a real splurge) and a plate for each of us consisting of one superbly cooked crab cake, four shrimps sautéed in garlic and gin, and three lightly steamed asparagus spears drizzled with truffle oil. All to die for.

Entrée: lamb chops with caramelized carrots (from our garden) and onions; roasted sweet potato, white potato and onions with tarragon; and some weird kind of mushrooms.

Salad: (yes we do it the European way, with salad after the entrée): spinach salad with roasted pecans, avocado and goat cheese, and a Balsamic vinegar dressing.

First dessert: lemon tart made with Meyer lemons picked from our lemon tree which lives in Berry’s Dad’s study in the winter and outside against a hot brick wall in the summer (we brought it with us from California ten years ago and it is thriving!) paired with a lovely Masala wine.

Second dessert: Decaf espresso and LOTS of chocolate truffles! BD had made truffles last night; I didn’t have the heart to tell him that I had bought a dozen truffles from our church youth group, who were making and selling them as a fundraiser for their annual social action project. But what the hell—you can’t have too many chocolate truffles!

This dinner was a great excuse not to attend the meeting of the Finance and Fundraising Committee, which is struggling to put together a draft budget to submit to the Board tomorrow night. They need to learn how to do this by themselves. Pass the truffles…