Viva L'amour

I was trying so hard not to have unfair over the top expectations for valentines day this year. It's hard to figure out what to do, where to go, what to buy. I tried to head all those feelings off at the pass, by suggesting a quiet romantic meal at home. But even last night I was afraid that somehow my expectations might have gotten too large again. I couldn't tell if my husband really wanted to do the meal, and we hadn't gone shopping. I was trying very hard not to over dramatize, and be disappointed.

But, it all came together. I got home a bit late due to the late launch of http://www.rotozip.com last night. We exchanged cards, and candy, and he got me a beautiful flower arrangement (with no baby-breath, he remembered I hate that stuff!!)

We leafed through the cookbook I bought the other day, and decided on the honey-glazed basil salmon, and the strawberry empanadas. A quick jaunt to the grocery store, a nice ride home.

As I unpacked and began to prep the salmon, Carlo went out for the croissants we forgot. I took the time to rinse the grapes and strawberries, and thaw the shrimp out for the shrimp cocktail.

He came back with already cooked croissants, which was funny, because we were going to cook the empanadas with the strawberries inside, but not really a loss at all.

It all came out wonderfully. The salmon was delicious with the bit of rice. We finally opened the Marietta Zinfandel wine we had picked up months ago in Marietta Ohio, saved for a special occasion. The strawberries were perfectly sweet and juicy, the grapes were firm not sour at all. The shrimp was fresh as well. It all came out so great!

We sat, and ate, watching bits of the Olympics (we've decided that spinning is like Super Monkey ball.), but mostly savored our food, and wine, while watching the arts channel.

We watched some mimes, and ballet, and some clips of sunset blvd. We laughed and giggled our way through the entire bottle of wine. Somewhere in there I put the empanada mix (Strawberries, brown sugar, lite cream cheese) inside the sliced croissants, which we then warmed. Very tasty.

We were really starting to get into arts channel during the last clip titled Tzigane, a beautiful piece on a violin, sounding soulful and gypsy like. Suddenly, beep boop beep, the arts channel turned off for the night, displaying public access stuff about county meetings. Awww.

It was just a wonderful romantic night, the food was just perfect, and new, the company , of course, my favorite. Ranks as high as I can remember for valentine's celebrations. Only fitting, this is the first one spent with my husband.

Viva L' amour

Viva L'amour

I was trying so hard not to have unfair over the top expectations for valentines day this year. It's hard to figure out what to do, where to go, what to buy. I tried to head all those feelings off at the pass, by suggesting a quiet romantic meal at home. But even last night I was afraid that somehow my expectations might have gotten too large again. I couldn't tell if my husband really wanted to do the meal, and we hadn't gone shopping. I was trying very hard not to over dramatize, and be disappointed.

But, it all came together. I got home a bit late due to the late launch of http://www.rotozip.com last night. We exchanged cards, and candy, and he got me a beautiful flower arrangement (with no baby-breath, he remembered I hate that stuff!!)

We leafed through the cookbook I bought the other day, and decided on the honey-glazed basil salmon, and the strawberry empanadas. A quick jaunt to the grocery store, a nice ride home.

As I unpacked and began to prep the salmon, Carlo went out for the croissants we forgot. I took the time to rinse the grapes and strawberries, and thaw the shrimp out for the shrimp cocktail.

He came back with already cooked croissants, which was funny, because we were going to cook the empanadas with the strawberries inside, but not really a loss at all.

It all came out wonderfully. The salmon was delicious with the bit of rice. We finally opened the Marietta Zinfandel wine we had picked up months ago in Marietta Ohio, saved for a special occasion. The strawberries were perfectly sweet and juicy, the grapes were firm not sour at all. The shrimp was fresh as well. It all came out so great!

We sat, and ate, watching bits of the Olympics (we've decided that spinning is like Super Monkey ball.), but mostly savored our food, and wine, while watching the arts channel.

We watched some mimes, and ballet, and some clips of sunset blvd. We laughed and giggled our way through the entire bottle of wine. Somewhere in there I put the empanada mix (Strawberries, brown sugar, lite cream cheese) inside the sliced croissants, which we then warmed. Very tasty.

We were really starting to get into arts channel during the last clip titled Tzigane, a beautiful piece on a violin, sounding soulful and gypsy like. Suddenly, beep boop beep, the arts channel turned off for the night, displaying public access stuff about county meetings. Awww.

It was just a wonderful romantic night, the food was just perfect, and new, the company , of course, my favorite. Ranks as high as I can remember for valentine's celebrations. Only fitting, this is the first one spent with my husband.

Viva L' amour