Happy Valentines Day....

The day started with a hearty brunch after working up an appetite at the gym. I made some whole wheat blackberry pancakes and crisp bacon. Yummy, this is 50% lower salt bacon and its really good.


I decided to make us dinner at home tonight because tomorrow morning we're off to Ann Arbor for a couple of days. We're going to meet up with my friend Danielle for dinner on Thursday night. I'm excited because we're going to try a place we've both wanted to try for awhile now.

So, back to dinner tonight. When I lived in So Cal, my dad and I used to eat at Ocean Ave Seafood in Santa Monica. I would often order the stuffed prawns and they are one of my favorite dishes to this day. I had a 1lb can of pasturized crab left from my last trip to Trader Joe's so I thought Id make stuffed shrimp. No dice because there are NO jumbo shrimp to be found anywhere round these parts. No matter, I just topped the crabmeat stuffing with some medium shrimp and broiled the entire lot. Robin's friend gave us some wild rice from Northern Ontario and I made a pilaf with porcini mushrooms and brown basmati. Dried cranberries and toasted almonds rounded it out.



Dessert was Ina Garten's Coconut cupcakes. I halved the recipe and still came out with 13 cupcakes. I expected more from these. They were very dense and I guess I prefer a lighter cake and more coconut flavor. I love coconut cake and I had high hopes for these.



and now for the piece de resistance, my Vday present. Robin bought me this fabulous set of antique yellowware bowls. They are so nice and probably over 50yrs old. I'm scared to use them, I dont want to break one. I'm an awesome cook, but I'm very clumsy in the kitchen.