Valentine’s Day

So I’m kind of a cynic when it comes to Valentine’s Day. I always have been. My college roommate and I even dressed in black in protest of the day one year. I’m a little more tolerant of it now since falling in love and getting married to such a great guy, but I still think it’s kind of hokey, contrived and commercial. Of course, I shouldn’t complain, since the store I work for obviously benefits from the holiday. I had to work all day yesterday and just about every five five minutes a page went out, “Floral department, you have a call on line one. Floral, line one.” What a great money-maker Valentine’s Day is!

Growing up my dad always got “his girls” (me, my mom and my sister) a red, heart-shaped box of Russel Stover chocolates for Valentine’s day. My husband carries on with that tradition and I love it. No fuss. I couldn’t ask for anything more than chocolate. Chocolate is the way to my heart. Course, he already has my heart.

For me romance isn’t flowers, balloons or cards. It’s like this story I read in the local paper about a couple who have been married 74 years. “Tony sometimes brings Rose her pills and a glass of water so she doesn’t have to get them, which is very romantic in her eyes.” Awww, that is so sweet. When I read that line, I was reminded of my husband and me. We’ve both had medical problems and have had to take care of each other, and yes, he has even brought me my pills and a glass of water. We are such old souls. I always think it’s romantic when we help each other out in little ways, like he refilling the soap dispenser next to my sink in the bathroom, and me baking cookies for him to take to work. We respect each other and take care of each other. Now that’s romantic!

I can’t let a little hokeyness get in the way of having some fun in the kitchen for Valentine’s Day however. It is a time when I can bake some fun things, use sprinkles and decorate with red and pink, a couple of my favorite colors. This year I made Michelle’s Soft Sugar Cookies from allrecipes. This was an excellent recipe! I frosted them with Sugar Cookie Frosting (not such an excellent recipe, but adequate). These cookies reminded me a cookie bouquet I made for Bryan when I was a senior in college. I’m pretty sure I used a tube of Pillsbury sugar cookie dough and canned frosting, but they were beautiful. I remember I had a hard time finding some skewers to put the cookies on to make the bouquet, but I was determined to make them. Either that, or I was determined to put off working on my senior design project!

I also made Beth’s Chocolate Chip Cookies with Valentine’s M&Ms and Sweetheart Cupcakes with Rick’s Special Buttercream Icing (awesome). I thought the cupcakes were going to be much more difficult to make, but they weren’t really at all. I did run out of the pink and red batters, resulting in some plain cupcakes, but overall it was a success. Bryan LOVED the raspberry flavoring.

I hoped you all had a sweet Valentine’s Day! Be sure to check out MySweetCreations‘ blog for more Valentine’s Day treats.