Miniature Things: I love my Valentine

The Mister and I didn't have much planned for Valentine's Day this year. I generally don't like eating out on V-day, since I think service and quality suffer for an overpriced meal. I'm also not one for pre-packaged cardboard hearts and expensive roses that only last a few days. Consequently, we made a loose plan to just spend the day together cuddling, watching the Olympics, and then cooking a nice dinner together. Imagine my surprise then, when I awoke yesterday morning and walked into the kitchen to this:

O.M.F.G.

My jaw literally hit the floor. I haven't been surprised like that in quite some time. Maybe since we got engaged 8 years ago? It was a big smiley moment. I had no idea this was coming. Of course once I saw my coveted Vitamix, I was so giddy that I had to run out to the store and pick up ingredients to supplement our original dinner plans. I couldn't not use my new toy! Thankfully, I'm also a bit sneaky, and had something prepared for the Mister when he went downstairs to brew during the day.

Another sneaky valentine

So after the Mister did some beer stuff and I did some cleaning, we decided it was five o'clock somewhere. That called for inaugural strawberry daiquiri's! I had to break in that Vitamix somehow, so I figured, what better way than with rum from our trip to Jamaica?

Vitamix start your engine

mmmmm, daiquiri

I must say, these were some mighty tasty drinks. I felt super good about them as well, since they weren't made from a mix full of HFCS and other unidentifiable ingredients. These babies were only real organic strawberries, ice, lime juice, rum, and a little agave to sweeten it up. So delish. I can't wait for warm weather to sit on the deck with one of these! But alas, it's still cold here, so on with dinner preparations I went. First course? Carrot soup with creme fraiche, toasted walnuts, and pancetta crisps. I used a recipe out of my William Sonoma Entertaining cookbook as a guide. I basically just sauteed a mixture of yellow onion and leeks in a bit of butter, then simmered 1 lb of chopped carrots with 1 box of chicken stock. After about 1/2 an hour, into the Vitamix it went for blending. The Vitamix not only blends (more like pulverizes) but adds air to the soup, making it amazingly creamy without added milk or cream. It was a pretty great replication of the soup we had at one memorable meal in Paris. I was more than pleased with how it turned out, and I can see us making this for guests a lot.

Carrot soup closeup

First course table scene

For our main entree's, the Mister had grand plans to sous vide us a steak. I must admit I was skeptical about his confidence in using his brewing equipment to make us a thermal immersion circulator. I know searing the steak at the end kills any remaining microorganisms, but can you blame me for not wanting us to die of food poisoning on Valentine's Day? Thankfully, it actually worked out, and we didn't get sick. Plated up with some garlic mashed potatoes and some spicy tomato spinach, this was a meal worth staying home for.

Plated Entree

Second course table scene

Finally, it being supposedly a day of love and chocolate and all, we chose to round out our meal with something sweet: Caramel filled chocolate lava cakes. They were as rich as they looked. That didn't stop us from topping them after the photo op with homemade vanilla whipped cream from the Vitamix though.