Be Mine

Andy and I had a fun Valentine's weekend. My "love language" is quality time, and my husband is so generous with his time for me. He usually blocks off at least one whole day of his weekend just for "us" time. We mostly take our doggies out and about on 'ventures. Even the doggies know when it's Saturday, they're going to get to go out and play. Here's Daisy ready to get a move on!

We went to Barton Creek Greenbelt for the afternoon. It was in the upper 60's and not a cloud in the sky. Barton Creek has changed a lot since we kayaked there last spring. The creek bed is almost completely dry, but we hiked up to one of the permanent swimming holes, and Gatsby had a good swim. Unfortunately, we didn't take any pictures there, but here's one of Daisy and Daddy climbing trees.

We decided that we'd rather cook a special meal at home than go out, so we went to Central Market on the way home and picked up some gigantic New York Strips, some veggies, and, of course, dessert.

When we were in Fredericksburg celebrating our anniversary we watched Iron Chef in the hotel, and saw the Iron Chef pan-fry a steak in butter. It looked amazing, and Andy asked me to make him one. I'd never pan-fried steak before, so I called my dad for some tips. He's the steak guru. Here are some pictures of the cooking process.

Steaks rubbed down in a mixture of garlic salt, butter, olive oil, salt and pepper and left for about 20 minutes.

I added just a little bit more butter to the pan, and then put the steaks in. The rosemary on the top added just the right hint of herby flavor, without overpowering the steak.

Next I added some mushrooms and onions to the pan and sauteed them with the rosemary.

Andy set the table while I put together our salads. We had one of my favorite salads- spinach, strawberries, mushrooms thinly sliced, red onion, oven-cooked bacon, pine nuts, and Parmesan cheese (feta is also really good, so is Mozzerella, but we only had the Parm in the fridge)with Brianna's poppyseed dressing. It could be its own meal. So delicious.

Everything got dished up and we ate! We even had candles, but Andy barely talked the whole meal. I guess that's not your typical idea of a "romantic" meal but I didn't mind because I knew the reason was because he was too busy savoring his steak!

We had Central Market's mousse cake for dessert with a Texas Port. Port and rich chocolate go great together- we learned that on our trip to the vineyards a few weeks ago.

And since today is actually Valentine's Day, Andy brought me my cereal and OJ in bed, made me coffee and gave me roses, chocolates and a card. He got a card and a giant Reese's heart from me.

I love you, my Valentine. Thanks for being such a sweetheart!