Valentine's Day (belated but determined)

My Valentine's Day was predictably normal. As of 6:30 when I left work, the only fun thing to happen was that one of the parking attendants at work told me I looked Norwegian. As Norway is halfway between Russia and Ireland (ie my real roots), maybe that makes some sense but the bottom line is that I still have a crush on Scandinavia and was THRILLED by this.

Caro and I had agreed to make dinner together, I had chocolate espresso cake to make for CVDJ's birthday (too bad my oven pilot light was out!) and all in all just looking forward to a chill night at home with perennially good company. Then I had to run to the store and, well, the story was so good that I decided it would be my first video post. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a movie must be worth 3 minutes of my verbal firestorm. I apologize for my speed. If you've ever received a voicemail from me, this is not surprising as they are indiscernable 87% of the time.

Video Story Telling:

This took waaay to long on Blogger so I tried to put it on YouTube. Too big. I looked at the size and NO WONDER. It's HUGE! And I don't know why- it's three minutes long! Any help would be great.

The rest of the night? Roast chicken, mashed baby Yukons, steamed asparagus with Herbes de Provence and homemade Caesar dressing on romaine. Chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. The dressing is incredible, do NOT let the ingredients list scare you.

Pop Pop's Caesar Dressing
2 cloves garlic-chopped

1 TB dijon
1 can flat anchovies
2.5 oz olive oil
1.5 oz vinegar - zinfandel if you can find it

Put it all in a food processor till smooth. Best served on fresh Romaine lettuce with freshly grated Parmesan(don't even THINK of that shaker stuff!).

And with 5 minutes to spare:

I had a nice little wine buzz when I shut off my lamp near midnight, having just finished "The American Man, Age 10" in my new book. It was awesome, in case you were wondering.

Of course then my phone buzzed. "Happy Valentine's Day" from a green room in Portland. "Did I make it in time?" he says. An hour later, I went to sleep grinning from ear to ear. What's a girl to do but smile?

Which reminds me, an extra date has been added for the Hotel Cafe Tour at the Park West (1st one sold out fast). March 30th for Ingrid Michaelson, Cary Brothers, Joshua Radin, Meiko, Dan Wilson and friends. Trust me when I tell you that this is an exceptionally good time. If you need some insurance on this, hop across the street to Stanley's and take a free, terrible whiskey shot at the bar with your Mac'n'Cheese before heading over.