A Perfect V-Day

Pat works 4 days on and 4 days off schedule.  We usually try to plan a simple  cheap date/fun day each week.  This week I had brilliant idea, since it was Valentine's Day, we would drive up to his Grandfather cottage on the lake and spend the night.  We could have a romantic dinner and cuddle in front of the fireplace, have a snowball fight and go skating.  Pat checked with Grandpa and that would be fine. I had planned out a menu and written a list.  Tuesday morning I woke up and Pat told me something he had forgotten.  The cottage has no utilities ( water and electricity)  in the winter.   I was all set to go anyway and just use the wood stove for heat and candles for light, when Pat pointed out that the wood stove didn't have a cook-top and we wouldn't have any plumbing.  So I abandoned my plans.  It really didn't upset me, we were still going to have lunch w/ Grandma and Grandpa and I figured we'd just have a quiet dinner at home.  However,  Pat was kind of grouchy-bones all morning and feeling guilty about not telling me about the lack of utilities at the cottage earlier.

We had a great Valentine's Day.  Lunch at Grandma and Grandpa's was great.  Afterwards we visited Walmart and picked up a couple of things we need for projects.  Then we checked out the fabric store to get some ideas to slipcover an ottoman and pillows in our bedroom.  It was relaxing and fun to look at things without any pressure to buy.  After we came home we spent time play Star Trek Online and cleaning.    YES cleaning--our apartment was really messy and we were both kind of grouchy about it, so we made a deal for every STO mission we did we would do "house mission" that took a equivalent amount of time/effort.  It worked, our kitchen, entryway, and living/dining room are nice and clean, and it was actually a ton of fun.

We have continued this trend of rotating real-life "missions" with game missions and it's been great.  We both love video games and we both tend to retreat to video games when things seem to difficult or boring or when we just don't know what to do.  It's been awesome we have gotten a ton done and had fun doing it. Some of our house missions have been yucky like clean the kitchen and some of them are totally awesome like: make pie.  I totally off-topic of our perfect Valentine's Day--anyways after a big lunch and perusing stores and cleaning the house we needed a nice simple dinner that was still "romantic"

So we had breakfast, we had Eggs in a Hole, Bacon, Grape tomatoes, and strawberry banana milkshakes.  It took about 20 mins total to make and was super delicious.  (PS sorry for the crappy photos  I'll chalk them up to living in a basement in Canada, in winter--ie NO light)

How to make Eggs in a Hole:

You will need:

2 Eggs ( person)

2 Slices of Bread ( 1 slice per egg)--I use Gluten free for me and whole wheat for Pat

Oil or cooking spray

Skillet

Spatula

Cookie cutter, knife or glass

Step 1: Heat oil in pan over medium heat, cut a hole in the center of each slice of bread--I used a heart cookie cutter in honor of Valentine's Day, but you could use a round cutter,  a Glass with an appropriate size rim or a knife to cut your hole.  Put the pieces of Bread and the cut outs into the warmed up pan.

 Step 2:  Toast the back of the bread.  When the back of the bread is lightly golden brown flip it over with your spatula and crack eggs into the holes in the center of the bread.  Put a lid over the pan and let it cook for 3-5 mins or until the eggs are done to your liking.  Sometime I like to add a little cheese just before the eggs are done and let it melt.  Transfer to plate.

Step 3:  Enjoy!

I hope you guys had great Valentine's Days too!

Sweet Love Letters from Grandma

Valentine's Day has never been a big deal in my family.  Mom always bought us valentines for school and gave us a little candy.  Once or twice I think we had special Valentine's dinners.  I have never bought a card or chocolates. I've only received one Valentine's gift --from my first serious boyfriend, and I believe that is the only time I've ever gone out for dinner on V-Day, as well.  V-day just isn't all that important to me, it's nice to have a reminder to take time for yourself or loved ones, but I've never thought it was a big deal.

But there is one big deal thing that happened every year on Valentine's Day when I was a kid.  My maternal grandma wrote us letters!!!!  We lived about 2000 miles from both sets of grandparents, so occasional visits, phone calls, and letters were huge.  And since it was Valentine's Day these weren't just any letters--they were conversation heart letters.   We were like kids on Christmas, when the envelopes arrived.  I remember ripping open the envelopes reading the letters and then pulling off the conversion hearts and eating them.  The candy was cool, but what was special about it was the letter.  Everyone loves getting mail/packages and love letters are probably about the best kind of mail you can get.  Grandma also typed a real letter to each of us and included with our conversation heart letters.  I love Valentine's Day.   Grandma died the fall of 1999 and the conversation heart letters stopped.   I have missed the love letters from Grandma,  and I missed the tradition.
So this year I wrote the love letters.
I bought a ton a conversation hearts and wrote letters to each of my 3 sisters and 1 brother and my 1 niece ( even though she is only 6 months old).  And it was a pain in the neck I don't know how grandma did it for more than twenty years for 30+ grand kids, but I plan to do it again next year and for as many years as I can in the future.  It didn't bring my grandma back, but for a little while I felt closer to her.

Conversation Heart letters are pretty easy they just require some time.

You will Need:
Cardstock for each letter you want to write ( paper work but cardstock is better)
A pen or pencil
Large and small conversation hearts  ( get at least twice as many as you think you'll need)
Powdered sugar
Water

Step one:  Dump conversation hearts out on kitchen table.  Sort them based on the words and put all the ones that are too weird to use aside--or eat them.

Step 2:  Mix up you "glue".  I didn't measure so I don't know exactly how much sugar and water you need but you'll need to mix it until it is about the consistency of thick white glue.

Step 3.  Lay out the hearts you want to us for the letter in the order you want them on your cardstock and fill in the rest of the letter with a pen or pencil.

Step 4:  Glue down the hearts with frosting glue.

It took me about an hour a letter to get a short coherent love letter.

You won't be able to say anything too profound but you can write a short mushy letter expressing your undying affection or adoration.  And kids love them or at least I know we did.