As our Valentine's Day draws to a close, I find myself tired and almost glad it is over. While this day usually smacks of amore' for most people, it has always been so much more in our family. Two of the most important people in my life were born on this day: my brother and my grandmother. Our family always came together for a big celebration filled with birthday cake and chocolate hearts. I looked forward to it every year. My grandmother passed away in July of 2009 and Valentine's Day isn't quite the same. I know my brother, who always graciously shared each birthday celebration with her, feels an extra loss for his birthday twin. Each year held another picture of the pair blowing out the candles on their particular desserts: his, cheesecake...hers, Butterscotch Delight. Sweet memories that will forever be in my mind and will fill my heart with pain and warmth.
Okay, so this evening I had planned to have a nice family dinner of steak, baked potatoes and veggies. I consider myself a fairly decent cook, but grills and I are not great friends. When lighting our gas grill a few years ago, I pressed the igniter only to have it flare up in a dramatic way and give me a free eyebrow contouring. To say I'm a little gun shy is an understatement. I waited as long as I could, hoping the hub would get home and save the day by becoming the grillmeister. Alas, it was not to be. I fired the grill up without incident and went inside to get the meat. I had also popped some potatoes in the oven for a low and slow bake. Then the steaks went on the grill and I looked at the time so I would know when to flip them. All this was going along just great. Then I got a phone call...which lead to some emails...which led to some texts....you get the idea. I also forgot that our grill is psychotic, so when I went out at 5 minutes to check on the meat, there were not so small hunks of burnin' beef. I quickly flipped them and rearranged them to try and prevent another flareup. Running inside to get a pan to put the meat in, I realized that an extra hour had passed since I had put the potatoes in the oven. Crap. They didn't look too shriveled, thank goodness. I ran back out, got the meat off, ran inside and started to plate everything. The cucumbers I purchased look lovely in the little heart dishes. The bread seemed okay. I mean, how can one really mess up bread wrapped in foil. Well, I guess you could, but it turned out. My brother dropped by quickly to drop off Valentines for the kids. I put dinner on the table. The cucumbers were bitter. The steak was cold. The potatoes were over baked. Aren't you sad you weren't a dinner guest tonight? The heart shaped cookie was the one thing that turned out better than expected. Next year, we'll order a heart shaped pizza and be done with it.
Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Brother Mike, I love you and Granny I miss you terribly every day...and, yes, you taught me better cooking than what I showcased this evening. I am blessed by my Valentine birthday babies and my 4 sweet Valentine heartbeats who bless me every day.
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My paternal Grandmother's birthday was also on Valentine's Day. She would have been 106 yesterday :)
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