Love my Valentine!

I have always loved Valentine’s Day. When I was a kid I loved picking out Valentine's cards, signing my name and writing super cool notes to my friends, decorating the cereal box (card holder...did anyone else do that in class?) , the pink and red hearts throughout the classroom and hallways,  parties with coca-cola and sugary treats that I'd consume until I'd reached the point of illness. I always loved when teachers had donuts waiting for us in the morning AND an afternoon party. I really liked any excuse for treats since I grew up in a very healthy/sugarfree/fatfree/have a baked potato/and youre never having a coke household. I never had boyfriends as Valentines. Ever. Until I was 18. But I didn’t care because my parents were always the best valentines. When I was 9 my dad got me a cat on Valentine’s Day. She was waiting in my bathroom for me when I came home from school. I named her Marbles. She was my first very own pet and I loved her so much. She died when I was visiting New York City when I was 14. I was so sad. I don’t like cats anymore. Yuck. Those sneaky little creatures. My mom used to always put together a big bag of Valentine’s treats for me. Usually, Russel Stover’s Candy. I’ve mentioned it on here before, but one year she threw a really fancy Valentine’s Day party for my 6^th grade class. We had ruggalah and black and white cookies. So fancy, I tell you! 

Now, since Louis and I have been together (6 years sha-eeesh), I THINK we have cooked every year for our Valentine’s Day Dinner. We don’t just cook a regular dinner, we get the finest ingredients and whip up a whole bunch of wonderful. I also like to make some sort of fun breakfast. This year we had fried eggs, bacon, strawberries and chocolate chip banana bread. And we listened to Bob Dylan. Then we both went to work (so drab) and I for one, counted down the minutes/seconds till I could leave the office and get home to a delicious dinner. Louis bought us aged ribeye, potatoes AND delicious fresh bread from The Brooklyn Kitchen. I picked up fresh mozzarella, basil, and beefsteak tomatoes at Grand Central Market. When we were finally home, I poured some wine, Louis put on a record, lit a candle, and we got to work. Couples cooking makes dinner making and cleaning a lot more fun, for sure. We had the best time talking and bopping around to music, getting cooking tips from Charsy, and then enjoying the most delicious meal. It was so good. I really couldn’t believe it. I’ve never made steaks OR potatoes that turned out that great. Recipes for so much goodness will be featured here over the next few days.

After dinner we exchanged gifts and cards, then lounged on the couch. We had planned to watch a movie, I was hoping for the new Woody Allen film but we were exhausted and suffering from a crazy sugar rush thanks to our treat filled presents, so off to bed we went.

  

 

 

I’m ready for a complete sugar detox now. I ate probably five pounds of insanely delicious chocolatey nuts from Max Brenner which is my favorite chocolate place ever, plus I snuck half of Louis’s gigantic black and white cookie. The black part only of course. I slugged my way to the gym this morning and hopped onto the treadmill for 45 minutes. I ran as hard as I could to hopefully sweat out the sugar but I believe I am still suffering from a bit of a sugar hangover. Liquid diet today. Except that I ate breakfast and will most likely eat dinner. So….liquid diet during working hours, I suppose.

Hope all of you lil lovers had a wonderful Valentine's Day too!