Mother Nature decided to share some of her spirit in my neck of the woods this weekend with plunging temperatures, high winds, and a few inches of snow (New England residents, my heart goes out to you all). Hubby and I decided to spend Valentine's Day weekend staying put, keeping warm, and just vegging, which is easy to do when the temperature gauge on your phone says it feels like -5 degrees.
We did run out to the grocery store Saturday morning to get some last minute items for our Valentine's Day dinner. Rewind back to when hubby and I were dating...you would most definitely find us among the crazies paying $150 for a limited menu of deliciousness at some swanky place we normally wouldn't go to. However, last year we decided to turn it down a notch, stay home, and make something we wouldn't normally cook. It worked out quite well, was less expensive, and we didn't need to get all dressed up. So, lo and behold, a new tradition was born. This year we decided to make Asian shrimp stir-fry followed by chocolate lava cake for dessert. Hubby was in charge of the dinner and I took responsibility for dessert. Now I know shrimp stir-fry doesn't seem like a hard dish and I'm sure it's on most people's dinner tables a couple times a month but it hasn't been in our arsenal of Monday - Friday, after work dinners, so for us it was a stretch to try it; but try we did - and it was a SUCCESS!
Here's the recipe we used for the shrimp - http://bit.ly/1vznny0. Did I take pictures? Nope, of course not. I was too busy mixing chocolate and forgetting to add flour to remember such silly things. Use your imagination and I promise I'll get better with the whole photo-taking thing. Hubby did a great job and it was delicious! The best part is that it made a ton so we had leftovers which were even better the next day, yum!
Now, onto dessert - http://bit.ly/1vPTqzu. If you've ever had dreams of making a lava cake but decided against it for one reason or another, fear not, for making a lava cake is quite simple. I followed the very easy directions - all but the part about adding the flour; however, I caught it before it was too late so crisis averted, phew - and sometime later impressed myself (and hubby) with a warm, delicious, chocolate confection complete with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream (store bought - let's not get crazy here.) Just one note: don't leave the cakes in any longer than 14 minutes. I was afraid not enough of the outside had cooked so I left them in for about 17 minutes and while they were still delicious, there was not as much lava flow action as I would have liked.
It was a wonderful dinner and we had a great time cooking together, trying something new, and enjoying our efforts. We finished up the evening watching episodes of Dexter on Netflix. What a romantic couple we are. :)
If you had been a fly on the wall in our home on Sunday you would have found us lounging on the couch; me wrapped up in a blanket with a heating pad for warmth, and hubby in a t-shirt and shorts. Not sure which one of us is more crazy. The older I get the more I freeze my tuccus off during the colder months and find that Florida looks more and more appealing. Hubby just sweats to death with every move I make of the thermostat dial. We ended our weekend by catching up on some DVR'd shows and watching the newest episode of The Walking Dead.
Mother Nature is sticking around this week as we're expecting about 4-7 inches of snow tonight with frigid temperatures. Thirty-three more days until spring!
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