Love Power

Valentine's Day: there's so many things to think about on Valentine's Day-- martyred saints, Greek mythology, Sandal's Jamaica... Jack and I, however, chose to reduce this rich and historically complex holiday to a meal involving lots of chocolate. For the most part, it turned out well.









We started with salad: Baby Greens, Goat Cheese, Maple-glazed Pecans, Popcorn, and Cocoa Nibs in a Balsamic Vinaigrette. I'm skipping the cocoa nibs next time. To my taste, the nibs didn't go well with the fruitiness of the vinaigrette.

Then the main course: Beef Ribs in a Chocolate Cinnamon Reduction accompanied by a Red Rice Pilaf and Green Beans with Caramelized Onions and Prosciutto. Amazing, all of it. The secret was cooking the beef for a long time and then letting it sit overnight in the sauce/reduction so that all of the flavors in the dish had time to blend. Also, I had some help with the beef...

And dessert: Vegan Chocolate Cake with Chocolate, Peanut Butter, and Avocado Mousse Frosting. The avocado addition sounds weird, I know. But it tasted lovely. Jack made the chocolate cake. The recipe is from a Moosewood cookbook. It's the best chocolate cake I've ever had and, because it was vegan, it was easy to delude myself into thinking for the next three days that I could without consequence replace my morning oatmeal with this cake. When I'm honest with myself, I know that I had some bad sugar crashes on those mornings. They were worth it.