Valentines
So in honor of Valentines Day, Brian and I decided to forgo any fancy dinners in a crowded restaurant and decided to cook ourselves. Brian went out and got me flowers. Although I wish the boy remembered that I love orchids. Although the arrangement of the roses he got me last night was beautiful.
It turned out quite nicely. We started out with fried coconut shrimp. Then Brian had filet mignon and I had veal chop both accompanied by mashed potatoes and roasted acorn squash, and Italian red wine which I got from Central Market. What a splurge. I know we avoided the fancy restaurant, but if we were to add up the bill for tonight’s dinner, I think it came out to 100 bucks. Still cheaper than your usual Bob’s or III Forks.
We ended with coconut cake from the store and prosecco. I think I did most of the cooking, whereas Brian peeled and mashed the potatoes. Silly boy thinks you’re supposed to mash it before you cook it, so he made tiny little cubes. I was like what are you doing?? He said, it makes it easier to mash. He also opened the wine, which I guess counts for something.
I have to say that steak isn’t hard to make, but I hated having to babysit it. But I had to do it right for a $25 cut of meat, I certainly didn’t want to waste all that money on a badly cooked piece of meat. I didn’t have a pan to sear it on, and you had to either use a stainless steel pan or a cast iron pan. So instead, I stuck it in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes and gradually lowered the temperature. It spent 18 minutes in the oven, but it still didn’t look cook enough and according to my thermometer, it was only at 120 degrees. So I turned on the stove and let it sear on the baking pan atop the stove for another 4 minutes. That seem to do the trick. Medium just like we like it. I usually don’t go out for steak but maybe 1-2 times a year, so this certainly was a treat.
The steak and potatoes were good, but Brian hated the acorn squash. Thought it was too squishy. Whatever. I liked it. I seasoned the squash with dried herbs, tossed them in olive oil and stuck in the oven for about 15 minutes at 350 degrees. It came out perfect. I love pumpkin and squash. The best part of the night of course was giving Reesey her wine, and the pink prosecco. I love sparkling wine, and prosecco is light and crisp. It was still exhausting. Next time, maybe we’ll have frozen pizza.
I make such a mess when I cook. But we got most of it cleaned up last night. In the process though we missed last night’s episode of Lost, which I hope to catch up this weekend. THREE day weekend baby. Thank goodness, because work was starting to get to me.
