Valentine's Day!

Well folks, just thought I would tell you what the Boyce's did for V-day and how everything turned out.

I made raviolis from scratch. They tasted ok, but they LOOKED like a disaster. Many of them got holes in them so lots of the filling came out during cooking. The pot looked pretty disgusting. Overall, they tasted ok with a bit of a squishy center because the water got into it. But I think i've decided the home made pasta isn't so much better that I'm going to quit buying it. It was a long process making and maybe I would have enjoyed it more if I had a pasta press... but I think I'm going to stick with frozen ravioli next time.

The Lava Cakes were also quite tasty! They were also a bit of a process, one that I think was worth it, but not on a very regular basis. I used a recipe from The Joy of Baking's web site. You have to separate and whip up eggs and use them at different times. Essentially what you're creating is a custard that bakes up a bit. So it was good, but it time consuming and if you do the eggs wrong I guess there's a bit of a margin for error. I'll probably make them again for a special occasion. :)

Reviews aside, our dinner was quite nice. Brad and I didn't do gifts or anything this year, so I just cooked a good meal, a yummy dessert, and set up a romantic dinner. I did dress up a bit to make the occasion a little more special. I put up candles in our living room and we had a "picnic" around the coffee table. It was fun for a bit of a change of scenery. Then we ate our ravioli and sipped our Barefoot Merlot that paired quite nicely with "red sauced pastas" (as the back of the bottle suggested). Then let the dog out of the kennel (or else she would have been all up in our food) and chatted for a bit before I put dessert in the oven. We ended up going to bed quite early (9pm) because Brad was super tired. I guess it's allowed since for the last couple weeks he hasn't been getting to sleep until 10:30 and that makes for a short night when you're waking up at 5:15 am. It was a nice Valentine's day for sure! Sorry there are no pictures. I totally forgot to take some. :(

Oh, Brad also got me a box of chocolates that he left for me to find when I woke up yesterday morning. I ate some with my breakfast. Haha.

Totally unrelated, yesterday I went to Michael's on a whim and they were having a scrapbooking storage sale. I got a bunch of JetMaxx storage cubes for 40% off! So I spent the rest of my Christmas money (yes, I still have some that I've been unsure of what to buy with it. I wanted to not buy clothes for once) on them. I got three cubes. I think next month with my Fun Money I am going to buy a fourth. As soon as I get my stuff all organized into it (yesterday I spent the afternoon putting it all together) I'll take a picture and show you! I'm so excited. Currently all my scrapbooking stuff is just thrown into a storage tub that I lug around when I need it. Not too accessible, that's for sure!

One last thing. Today is my parents 25th Wedding anniversary. I had wanted to throw them a big party, but that it didn't workout because I live so far away and my brother is a wee lad of only 16. I guess we'll have to catch the next one! Anyway, I just wanted to say that I'm very happy for you two. Not many of my friends can say that their parents are even still together, let alone celebrating their 25th anniversary. As a child it never once crossed my mind that you were going to split up, and I think that attests to the strength of your relationship. You modeled a healthy relationship for me and I'm glad I had that influence in my life. Happy Anniversary, and here's to many more years! :)