Valentine\’s Day – Karen Blanchette

Yesterday was Valentine\’s day, so being the romantic that I am, I spent it with my lovely boyfriend. My birthday is on the fourth, so February can be a pretty rough month for my significant other in terms of planning dates and doing things. So, this is what he came up with.

Valentine\’s day didn\’t go exactly as planned. There\’s actually a running joke that sometimes when Evan plans something, it never works out for whatever, and for no fault of his own. A couple of times, the place actually no longer existed (Interstate Bowling and that Downtown Sushi Place) or we get there too late (the coordinated cul de sac Christmas lights in his neighborhood) or the place has been ridiculously crowded (Flip Happy Crepes). However, even though the initial plan didn\’t work out, we normally improvise and do something else that is equally as awesome. This is basically what happened on Valentine\’s day.

We were originally supposed to go to Art on Fifth, which is an art museum downtown that features a permanent Thedor Geisel exhibit a.k.a Dr Seuss, who is one of my absolute favorites.

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Source: http://www.infobarrel.com/Media/Dr_Seuss

I can recite the first half of One Fish Two Fish, loved Seussical the Musical and got two copies of Horton Hears a Who for Christmas a couple of years ago. I\’m basically a huge fan, but even though I\’ve lived in Austin for going on my 6th year, I have still never been. My boyfriend listens. The only little bitty problem is that I don\’t get out of work until 5pm and the museum closes at 6pm on weekdays (so not fair!). Though my work is hardly far from downtown, during rush hour on Valentine\’s day takes FOREVER. Needless to say, we needed a new plan. Enter Plan B.

As we\’re sitting in traffic, knowing we\’re not going to make it in time to the museum, I suggest that we hit up a happy hour and wait for the traffic to die down before heading up north to where we live. So, I suggest one of our absolute favorite restaurants Z\’Tejas.

For the next hour or so we sit at the bar, drinking our fabulous margaritas (seriously these drinks are awesome) and eating the Tejas Trio, which is basically chips with chorizo queso, guacamole and salsa. It was a perfect way to start the evening.

The real Valentine\’s plans were happening later in the evening where Evan has decided to cook me an entire meal all by himself. To top this feat off, he used recipes from my infamous spreadsheet! This means that I can take a couple recipes off my ever-growing list of recipes to try and I didn\’t even have to lift a finger.

The Meal

Starter: Henri\’s French Onion Soup

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Evan is a huge French Onion soup fan and it wasn\’t until very recently (like within the last year) that I had ever even had it before. My dad absolutely will not eat onions and my mom has a bad reaction to this soup so it\’s just never been a possibility in my life for a long time. I\’ll say it was pretty good, but I\’ve had some at restaurants that are better, probably because the cheese is more crispy and cooked than stringy. All in all, it was decent and I think Evan liked it a lot.

Entree: Scallion Meatballs with Soy-Ginger Glaze with Mashed Potatoes and Cheese Toast

Quick, what do you get when you mix this (scallion turkey meatballs) $\"\"$

with this (soy-ginger glaze) $\"\"$

Answer? Deliciousness

$\"\"$ We will pretend that the picture above is not blurry and instead super delicious looking, because it was. The sauce was so good and very Asian inspired, He must have reduced the sauce down a lot because when I finally got to it it was thick and gooey and very flavorful. Loved it. I also liked the fact that the meat was turkey. I don\’t eat meat all that often (I know…for shame) and I prefer the lighter stuff. Although, I\’m sure if you had some ground beef it would also be good and maybe even a little juicier.

We also had mashed potatoes. My entire family is from Maine and we eat potatoes like we breathe air. My dad used to have to harvest potatoes when he was in school. I\’m no stranger to this awesomeness.

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And it wouldn\’t be valentine\’s day if there wasn\’t dessert. I present to you possibly my favorite dessert in the entire world, Tuxedo cake.

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Ok, I must confess, that was store bought, are you happy? He\’s good, but he doesn\’t bake a whole lot. But the rest was homemade, honest engine.

$\"\"$ (Isn\’t he adorable?)

I love you Sweetheart!

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