A Love Feast

We don’t do cards; we don’t do flowers and we don’t do candy. So how did my honey and I celebrate Valentine’s Day last month? With food, glorious food!
A little history: our first year together Bill and I decided to bypass the usual V-Day festivities and spend a day in the kitchen. So successful was our day spent cooking together that we decided to make it our own tradition.
Over the years we’ve endeavored to duplicate recipes from Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and the James Beard classic, American Cookery. This year a decadent dessert featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay piqued my interest, but before any work was to be done we needed breakfast.

This time of year it seems everyone has got a cold (another good reason to opt for a stay-at-home holiday and bypass the crowds), so we started our day of eats with vitamin C-packed grapefruit, followed by roasted red potatoes, egg and toast.

We had just enough time to race to the store before watching KU beat Baylor in a Big Twelve conference game. During the game we split a turkey, avocado sammy and then headed for the kitchen.

We usually work as a team, but this year we split the workload. Bill took on the French onion soup while I dove into Bobby Flay’s Toasted Coconut Cake with Coconut Filling and Coconut Buttercream!
Four hours later, we popped open a special bottle of wine (Matriarch 2004 Napa Valley Red) and sat down to our love feast.

French onion soup is often used as a starter, but followed by a salad it makes a fine meal, especially if one is going to partake in a rich dessert.

Just another fantastic Valentine’s Day spent with my sweetheart!
How often do you indulge in extravagant dessert? I don’t often eat sweets, but when I do I make sure it is worth it! —Karen