Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

Ya' know what I like about holidays? FOOD: the traditional holiday food, playing with traditions and adding new recipes, and, of course, having a captive audience to feed new foods and new ways of cooking familiar ones. 

That being said, Valentine's Day is a bit of a let down, food wise.  Wait, you might say, Valentine's Day is about Love, Chocolate, Flowers, and men (young and old) taking their significant others out to dinner (insert gender stereotype here.....) But...I don't bake, and I bought flowers for Dawn Rae exactly one week ago.

I braved the grocery store today (that was complete with a tent in the parking lot for last minute shoppers....no comment). Yes, the check-out lines were long, and the store was filled with men (and women, lest you be left out) buying balloons, roses, various other bouquets, plants, stuffed animals, and (what I assumed was) Valentine's day cards--all conveniently located at the front of the store. 

The produce area was barren; the meat counter empty; the bakery (as you might guess) was busy. 

Perhaps I should ruminate on the consumer culture and the convenience of buying cupcakes or a king cake but....in some ways I understand; it's Tuesday, and everyone has to work (and--as importantly--work tomorrow) so I don't imagine that too many couples my age will be downing more than a glass of champagne tonight or spend a couple hours after work cooking. 

Given that it is a day of and for love, dinner tonight will be all about Dawn Rae, but my choice of meal may not be that different than those who go out for dinner.  That is, I haven't really changed our Valentine's Day menu in awhile.  Surf and Turf  (today minus the surf because the shrimp looked questionable and the crab legs were, well....$$$$). 

Menu:
Prime Filet for Dawn Rae
Choice "manager's special" for me
Asparagus (with some kind of sauce: buerre blanc, bearnaise, or hollandaise)
Baked Potato
Crostini (just rubbed w/ Garlic)

Now that I look at it, I may have to make a compound butter if I have time and forget about the sauce.  It will work for both the steak and the asparagus.  It also helps that the parsley that I planted last year is now growing.

A special thank you goes to my colleague Ramey Prince for bringing (artfully designed and expertly baked) cupcakes to work today.  Dessert tonight: one cupcake for Dawn Rae.