Valentine's Day Married Style

As you know, Valentine's Day landed on a Sunday this year.  This day was our first Valentine's celebration together as a married couple.  I didn't want David to spend lots of money on flowers like the rest of the crazy boys in the world do and I don't exactly need extra candy in my life.... We decided that we would just savor the time together and I wanted to make a nice dinner. Outback Steakhouse's Alice Spring's Chicken was my main dish choice. When I told David my plan and explained what it was, he didn't seemed too thrilled.  My goal was to prove his doubts wrong.  Let's just say he was more than impressed. :)

 

Alice Spring's Chicken is chicken marinated in honey mustard, covered in sauteed mushrooms, bacon, jack, and cheddar cheese.  Delicious! I got the recipe here: http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Outback%20Steakhouse%20Alice%20Springs%20Chicken/task/display/itemid/508379/recipeid/117827

 

David wanted potato salad, but it turned out we didn't have enough mayo. :( So the only side was amazing asparagus, which was plenty.
Well, no special dinner is special enough without dessert...SO, I decided to use the ramekins my mom gave us for Christmas for the first time and I made Chocolate Souffle with Creamy Caramel Sauce. WOW. The caramel sauce was superb.

 

I tried to just drizzle it...Okay, that is a lie! I went a little over board with the tasty caramel.  I don't even regret it! You can find the recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Souffles-with-Creamy-Caramel-Sauce-15813 

I love my adorable valentine, David. We are happy together and excited for all the adventures that we will experience together.  He is talented, smart, and encouraging. I can always count on him to make a hard day better or to help me with an overwhelming project. He is working hard toward challenging goals for the benefit of our family. I am so proud of him. Spending the WHOLE day with my Valentine was enough for me this Valentine's Day.  I wish every day could be like today. <3

The Tale of the Broken Cookie Jar

So strange things happen sometimes when you least expect them. For instance, you can be in the kitchen with your wife doing dishes while she is cooking breakfast and your cookie jar can just jump off the fridge and break into a thousand tiny pieces.

 So the story behind the cookie jar is that Deidra's friends took her to a pottery painting place and she made it for us. It took hours of hard work. She brought it home and was so proud of making our first family cookie jar. It was definitely cute and, of course, held special meaning for us as a new couple. Then again everything for us is a first still so anything like that holds special meaning. So, as you can see, it was seriously bustecated (broken) into about a thousand pieces. We picked up the pieces and put them in a box lid to get ready to throw them away. But this just couldn't be. How could we let this go so easily? I decided to buy some super glue (Gorilla Glue brand) and piece together the broken shards of our cookie jar. It was more than just preserving a receptacle for cookies; it was about memories for us...well, we like cookies too. So, after an evening of trying to piece this thing back together this is what we have.

We like the busted look. It has character. It tells a story. Plus it is 40 dollars and a few hours of effort to try to go and make the same one over again. So, we have a disaster, a moment of despair, a moment of hope, and then, a busted glued-together cookie jar.

 Once the cookie jar had given up hope of ever seeing cookies again, David saved the day! Deidra made cookies this very day and the jar is happily back to full operating condition (with some nice battle scars ;)).