Valentine's Dinner

Valentine's Day Dinner.

The kids and I decided to make a very special Valentine's Day dinner for Daddy. Something with a Southern flare. He was at a class all day so we found our recipes, made a list, and headed out to the grocery store.

Here's the menu:

Homemade Macaroni and Cheese (kids)
Breaded Louisiana-style Shrimp
Warm Sourdough bread
Salad
*sauces...homemade honey mustard, wasabi, spicy cocktail sauce (all for me)

This blip captures our kids making the macaroni and cheese. My son cracked two eggs and tossed out the shells. My daughter cracked one egg and tossed IN the shell. They poured in the rest of the ingredients and I added the salt and nutmeg. Then they both took turns stirring. And it really was quite delicious.

But the shrimp were absolutely delicious. I found an authentic breading in the Asian food section at the store and grilled them in olive oil. Oh they were tasty. And I had so much fun with my sauces. I'm the only one in our house who loves spicy foods. For dessert, we all shared a mini Chocolate Mousse Pie. It had whipped cream and chocolate chips sprinkled on top.

The kids each got a mini pillow pet for Valentine's Day. This year I told them about their gift beforehand so that they could each pick out the mini pillow pet of their choice. Our son is the one who gave us the idea as being a possible idea for a Valentine gift. He told us one day that his doggy Mystery would love to have a little friend. So he picked the puppy and what did our daughter pick? Yes, the puppy. Now my son could have had a problem with this (especially considering the last couple of days he has had with rules) but he was so sweet about it. He just worried that the pets would get confused. So I let them each pick out a dog collar in the pet station. I know, I can't believe I spent the money on pet collars for pretend pets but the kids love them and now we can tell whose puppy is whose.

All in all, a very nice Valentine's day. A nice little dinner for four. And a couple of new pets. Oh and I didn't mention that my husband came home with gifts as well. Another puppy for our son and a unicorn for our daughter. And they were thrilled and now we have a houseful of new pets to take care of. And it still shocks me that our son has taken to stuffed animals as much as he has in the last two months. The other day in the car I heard him say, "I love you......." and I started to say, "Well, I lov....." and then he said, "puppy!!!". Oh, guess I thought that that 'I love you' was coming to me. This new little stuffed animal friendship of his makes me smile.