» A Dinner with my Valentine

A Dinner with my Valentine

I dislike Valentine’s Day. When I was a kid, it was SO MUCH FUN. After all, the combination of pink hearts, paper doilies, crafts and candy brought out the girly-girl in me. But once I got past elementary school, the holiday started to lose its appeal.

Since I’ve had kids, I’ve gotten some of the crafty Valentine’s fun back in my life, as you can see from the winning 5th grade “Funniest Valentine’s Bag” above. But really, I’m perfectly fine if the day passes without a single mention of it. Most years we have no celebration at all. It’s too commercialized for my taste.

This year, however, Paul used Valentine’s Day as the excuse to get me a wonderful, delicious present. A bottle of deliciously aged balsamic vinegar and another of black truffle oil. So of course, I had to create a meal worthy of this deliciousness.

We started off our dinner with shrimp sushi that had nothing to do with either the balsamic or the truffle oil. But it was sure good!

Then, we moved to the salad, which was dressed with the oil and vinegar combination. All I have to say, is Holy Crap! The combination makes for a fantastic dressing! We demolished our salads. Not a leaf was left.

Continuing on, we moved to the main course — Rib Steaks with Balsamic Mushrooms, sauteed spinach with garlic and baked potato. After the sushi and the salad, we were pretty stuffed. Although everything was good, we couldn’t even eat half of our steaks.

We paced the meal out while watching When Harry Met Sally. First sushi, then we started the movie. A Pause after the airplane scene for our salads, and another one after the “I’ll have what she’s having” scene for our steaks. When the movie was over, it was dessert time.

And dessert was Amaretto Souffle with Balsamic-Drizzled Strawberries and Amaretto whipped cream. You’ll notice how yellow the souffle is…that’s cause they’re made with eggs from our wonderful hens. Oh, the wonder of real eggs!