so i’m throwing it back to v-day now that i just posted on easter. ;)  i’m known to be a very sensical, chronological, and on-time blogger, have you noticed?  anyway, this was probably my favorite valentine’s day ever.  we had a fun, low-key evening – i went over to jamie’s with a bottle of rosé in hand and he surprised me by making homemade pad thai for dinner!  my man can cook!  it was amazing and i loved it.

{yes way, rosé!  the ambiance was on point – dim lighting, candles, and a “fire” ;)  oh, and he got bonus points for his mise en place – he had prepped all the ingredients already and they were in little dishes, all ready to go!  the culinary school graduate was impressed.}

{sooooo good.  he totally killed it.  especially since he added a bunch of cilantro even though the recipe didn’t call for it.  double bonus points!!}

{for dessert, we had apple pie plus he made us chocolate-covered strawberries and pineapple!  this boy definitely knows the way to my heart…}

{yum!}

{and he gave me this canvas picture of us.  i love it and he’s a sweetheart.}

{cheers!}

after dinner, we went over to my place because i had put together a valentines scavenger hunt for jamie.  i had made clues on chalkboard hearts with lots of cheesy puns and hid some of his favorite things around my apartment.  sometime i’ll do a post on the whole scavenger hunt so i can show how i did it.

{this was after he found everything!}

{all the goodies from on the scavenger hunt… these are a few of his favorite things [plus a couple of things i thought he needed]!}

{a little v-day card}

{and this was jamie’s last goodie at the end of the scavenger hunt – his favorite cake with a sign that says, “you’re the icing on the cake, darling.”  i’m pretty sure this will always be my line for jamie!  [the background story on that is here, if you’re interested.]  there is definitely a story to this cake too though… to start it off, if there’s one thing i feel confident making, it’s cakes.  everyone has a “thing,” and making cakes is mine.  big, fancy layer cakes with lots of steps involved don’t scare me.  but even for the avid cake baker, mishaps can happen [and even with the easiest of cakes].  this was one such occurrence.  i poured a caramel sauce over the warm cake layers in the pan and let them chill in the fridge, just as the directions said… and the layers didn’t come out of the pan.  like at all.  the cake for my boyfriend.  on valentine’s day.  hindsight says i should have known better, but i was convinced that i could trust the directions so i followed them exactly… but instead of making a beautiful layer cake on my footed cake stand, i had to improvise and ended up spooning out the sticky cake pieces, then laid them in a 9×13 pan and frosted it.  it worked out because it was easily transportable so jamie got to take it home.  and you know what?  we ate that cake with a spoon and it was damn good.  all’s well that ends well.}

i’d say it was a valentine’s day for the books. :)  xoxo