Valentine's Dinner #1

Last night we had anything but a romantic dinner... Alejandra's parents are visiting from Mexico so we had a lovely dinner. Ale's dad is a wine afficianado so I made Coq au Vin and we served Burrowing Owl Meritage. Coq au vin is supposed to be with Burgundy/Pinot Noir but in order to serve everyone I needed two bottles of the same wine and somehow it seemed gauche to serve two different pinots and I did not have two pinots that were evenly remotely the same but did have two idetnical meritage. And the BO meritage wines were from 2002 so nicely aged. Perhaps Martha would poo poo my diversion from tradition but I really doubt anyone could tell the diff. We served it with steamed red and purple potatoes (which our Mexican guests found quite funny) and a really good salad and some rosemary sourdough bread. For dessert I made crepes with apples in brown sugar and gooseberries and whip cream.

Yesterday my husband gave me the nicest gift... he wrote the most romantic, loving note in a card. That is all... and to be honest, that was all I needed. Gifts are lovely and all, but sometimes sentiment just means more. He did also buy roses and they are pretty but the card was so incredible. His expressions of love aren't always frequent so when he gives me such a heartfelt card, it means the world to me.

Tonight I am surprising my husband with a delayed but lovely Valentines dinner. I am making tenderloin steaks in a wine sauce. I bought the steaks at Hopcott's and they look lovely! I haven't planned my sides yet as i need to look through my produce bin. I also picked up some scallops wrapped in bacon that I will make as a first course and am planning on bittersweet chocolate mousse for dessert.

On a complete aside, we bought a coffee table... finally. I love it! It is this big, solid, dark brown stained wood piece of absolute art. The more I look at it, the more I love it!

And on another aside, tomorrow we are being visited by a lovely lab cross named Charley. He is living in a foster home. He is 4 months old. His previous family bought him at 8 weeks and then left him outside 100% of the time. After a few weeks they put him up for sale on craigs list and this lovely saint of a woman who has rescued 7 dogs already including the cutest little blind dog EVER, raced over and bought him to save him. If Charley and our family clicks well then we will start a gradual transition to foster him. We won't adopt him at this point but will foster him and see if another family comes available. I suspect we will fall in love very quickly though and he may become a permanent addition. My dad will likely be annoyed at first but he is a sucker for a cute animal (like me) and although he secretly pretends that he thinks pets are too much work I know he misses having one. Here is a picture of Charley