Valentine's Dinner
I broke the grocery ban. Microwaveable Indian food didn't seem like an appropriately fancy Valentine's Day dinner, so I planned a nice dinner that required only a minimum of purchases and left few leftovers. The menu:
Beef Tenderloin Roasted in a Salt CrustWarm Potato Salad with Gorgonzola, Baby Spinach and Walnuts
Baked Asparagus with Parmesan Cheese
Dark Chocolate Soufflés with Cardamom Crème Anglaise
2003 Robert Mondavi Carneros Pinot Noir
I bought the meat, potatoes, gorgonzola, spinach, asparagus, wine and a small bottle of whole milk. The rest of the stuff I had on hand or made approximate substitutions. I am left with some spinach and a few potatoes, but used up everything else. Oh, I also bought some mushrooms for a soup I decided not to make last night. Maybe I'll make it tonight. Now, I'm back on track with the boycott. It sure was nice to have some fresh vegetables, though.
As many of you probably discovered last night, Valentine's Day is the busiest day of the year for restaurants. I had to work the last two VDs; being able to cook one nice dinner for two is so much more enjoyable than cooking 150 nice dinners for two. It's even better being able to eat that nice dinner in the comfort of your own home, without a server hustling you out the door to flip the table for the next couple waiting in the lobby, stomachs grumbling.
And after dinner, we watched an episode of The Ultimate Fighter from season one; nothing says romance like mixed martial arts.