roast chicken for valentine’s day
Happy Valentine’s Day! And a special shout-out to my dad, who celebrates another year of growing older (and even wiser and funnier) today. I usually roll my eyes a little at all the pressure to be romantic and ridiculous money-spending that come with today but this year, the sunshine and cute stuff happening around me have warmed and melted my (cold, hard, blackened… ok fine, I am exaggerating) heart quite a bit. At the school where I volunteer, the chef I work with brought homemade heart-shaped brownies for the kitchen staff. One really sweet little kid dropped by with chocolate truffles for us. And during lunch, I heard a high school boy tell a gift-less friendgirl “Happy Valentine’s Day. It’s stupid that the popular girls get all the flower grams.” The head cook wished me a happy Valentine’s Day on my way out and instructed me to give my husband a huge wraparound hug and rock him back and forth. At my local CVS, I saw a couple deep-throat kissing while pushing a baby in a stroller, then I heard an elderly customer ask a pretty young cashier if she was doing anything tonight. All this happened before the clock struck noon.
Aside from thinking I’m too cool for cheeseball rituals and sentimental anything (and then giving into all the warm and fuzzy), Vday for me is about having a nice dinner at home with John, away from the crowds. This year (one day early) we roasted a chicken and popped open a yummy bottle of California chardonnay. On the side: herbed potato hash with carrots and Brussels sprouts. For dessert: treats from Bespoke Chocolates (my favorites: pretzel-covered sea-salted caramels and strawberry balsamic).
