Love fest!

Last year, before we were engaged, I told Nick that we were not going to fall into the lazy-Valentine's-day-couple trap. We were going to celebrate Valentine's day one way or another (not necessarily with fancy gifts etc., but in some romantical form) each year.

We've actually never gone out on Valentine's day. We've always made a special dinner at one of our homes together. It was always extra special b/c we did not live together, and somehow it always worked out that we got privacy on that night so we got to play house for a few hours.

This year we do live together and I was worried that it would not be as special as years before. So, I decided to make something I have never made before and have only really eaten once before: steak.

I saw Rachel Ray make it once, years ago and thought it looked easy enough. I tried to find her recipe, or one like it, to no avail. I decided to just wing it based on my occasionally reliable photographic memory.

I headed to Whole Foods - if I was going to make or eat steak it was going to be fresh and as organic as possible. I also stocked up on white asparagus, spaghetti squash, and fresh rosemary. All super fresh, yummy smelling, and organic.

I roasted the asparagus with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. The spaghetti squash I cut in half, deseeded, and drizzled with a little olive oil. I threw both in the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

I pulled out the electric griddle for the steak and put it at 350 degrees also. I seasoned the steak with a little salt and pepper and put a sprig of rosemary on each side. Then, I slapped those bad boys on the griddle and waited. They took a bit longer to cook than I expected (maybe I should have made the griddle hotter). Maybe took 20-30 minutes total - after cutting and checking a few times, but then they turned out great.

I guess if I were to do it again, I would cook them until they started to "bleed", that seemed like a good indicator they were getting to the right consistency.

Dessert? Well I dropped the ball this year, but the hubby was content with the Peanut Butter Incredibar from World Market (I think it came from Cali). A little later I realized I had some red velvet batter left over so I made a few cupcakes complete with cream cheese frosting.

All in all - success!