2017 Annual Valentines Day Dessert Contest!

I always think about what traditions my kids will remember when they are older.  My mom had sooooo many when I was growing up.  I know my kids are little, but the tradition making needs to start soon doesn't it?

Well, we have ONE so far! ha

 I definitely want to continue [and want them to remember and look forward to]  our annual Valentine Desert contest.  It started three years ago when Marcelo was a baby.  We had the idea to put the kids to bed and have our romantic date right there at our own kitchen table.  Probably one of our best ideas, because it was so FUN!  We picked separate [secret] desserts, then tasted and judged who won. 

I am 1 for 3.  Wah-wahhhhh.  (First year I won with a molton lava cake. Second year Ernesto made the most amazing tiramisu!  Last year I won again with a chocolate tart.)

This year our THREE judges:

Knowing this made me want to pick something chocolatey, because well, you know, kids loooooove chocolate.  But who am I kidding?  My kids love anything sweet really.

Ernesto is tough to beat, and this year he said I took the "easy way out."  (which should be no surprise to anyone, as this is the story of my life!)  BUT! In my defense, this dessert is something I had been wanting to try ever since my friend Janie told me about it.  

Chocolate Avocado mousse!  And it was delicious, rich and super creamy.  Maybe a tad bit healthy with the avocados??  

Was it simple to make? Yes!  (throw ingredients in blender and wa-la!)  Did my husband spend 4x as long preparing his dessert?  Yes....is this why he won this year?  Maybe.

My kids also LOVE cupcakes!  Which is what papi brought to the table.  Not an ordinary cupcake, but a strawberry shortcake cupcake.  It was unbelievable! 

And oh so pretty! 

So yeah, the votes came in, and he beat me.  (on a side note: Mateo is giving my desert a "thumbs down" but he did scarf one of these ramekins down AFTER the winning cupcake!! #sweetfien

But you know what?  I am not a competitive person in the least.  Seriously. Beat me....just feed me something good! 

Oh! And some flowers would be nice too. 

The ladies of the house were very impressed with papi's picks!
Tulips, ranaculas, hydrangea, sunflowers, daffodils, stargazer lillies.  Maybe a bit overboard...but every girl needs that once in a while, right?   YEEEEARS and years ago, Ernesto did the same thing and brought me dozens and dozens of flowers.  

He does things unexpectedly, and you know me, I love surprises!
Did you guys have a great valentines?  Anything exciting?  Surprises?? Do tell!

A Valentines Day Bake-Off!

I hope you guys had a sweet Valentines Day!  We sure did.  In fact, my stomach hurt a little the next morning from just how sweet it was.

My parents were here for a couple days, passing through on their way to Florida. We had planned to go out on a date Tuesday night while they were here so they could watch the boys.  A pre-valentine dinner if you will.

Enter winter ice storm.

With all the news coverage stating no one should drive the next day, everyone in Atlanta had flashbacks to a few weeks before and I had to spend 30 minutes in line at Kroger for wipes and coffee.  Come on Atlanta!  I would've left but we were down to the last few wipes and ...hello? coffee!

My parents feared they would be stuck in another southern "winter storm" debacle so they packed up in less than an hour and got out of dodge!!  I can't really blame them. Later that evening they were in 64° weather while all of Atlanta was stuck inside for the next three days.

When the ice finally melted we ventured out to Whole Foods.  (Yes that is an outing for us!)   Usually this includes a stop at TJMaxx next door, but they were still closed along with a lot of other businesses.
Since we were going to be spending V-day at home, we had to do something different.  I had an idea to surprise each other with a homemade dessert.  I think this was my way to get Ernesto excited.  He is not big on the "Hallmark Holiday" but he loves a good competition.  And me, well,  I love any opportunity for surprises.

While Mateo was at school Friday making me this beautiful Valentine...

Neto, Marcelo and I went shopping for the secret ingredients! 

We didn't share what we were baking (obvs) but we noticed we both were buying chocolate. Hmmm

Me: What are you baking yours in? 

Him: little bowls

Me:  Ramekins? 

Him: Yes.  You?

Me:  Ramekins.

Him:  Mine is going to be better!

Me:  We will see about that!

I would never enter a cook-off with Ernesto, but a bake-off seemed like it could be fair.  I just hoped we weren't making the same thing! 

While Ernesto put Mateo to bed, I had Marcelo in the Ergo and got to mixing my special dessert. I left the 4 ramekins covered and ready to be baked while we ate our dinner.

I grabbed these cute place mats from Target earlier that day and they really set the mood.  Ok the flowers, candles and wine also helped.  It was really exciting guys!  (You can tell I don't get out much!)  

Dinner included steaks (mine-filet and his-ribeye) and whole foods actually had a v-day special where you get a lobster tail with each steak! Yes!  This kind-of made up for the restaurant prices we paid for the meat. Organic and grass fed costs, but DAMN it was delicious...even for this steak snob. **

(**every steak I eat is compared to eating in Argentina.  Oh Delta I miss you!  The price has never been beat, but this steak did come close!) 

I roasted broccoli and asparagus as a side dish.  It was crispy and delicious. 

I cleaned this plate up which left no room for dessert. 

 We pressed on though.  Full stomachs be damned!

I found the recipe for my Chocolate Molten Cakes on a blog called Delicious Shots.  Nawja is a chef and a photographer, so I only had to see one picture of this cake oozing chocolate to know it was my ticket to victory!  This is a repeater!  Easy, beautiful and sinfully delicious.  Just wrong.

Note to self:  Self, you do not need to finish such a decadent dessert all in one sitting.  And you definitely do not need to lick the plate...especially with another decadent dessert being served after.

Ernesto's dessert admittedly was more labor intensive.  He made a Molten Soufle from the site Chef Steps.  It was beautiful.

His recipe came with video instructions.  (great little video and website!)
Only thing - it was made by someone in Europe or Canada (or another country using the metric system)  so he had to convert all ingredient measurements.

We have watched Chopped enough to know how to critique food.
 Judging came down to three things:  Taste, presentation and creativity.

Here are the objective results of the competition!

We tied on creativity since our desserts were somewhat similar.
Ernesto won for presentation......but I WON for TASTE!
(I think Ernesto would want me to explain that the conversion of salt from grams to teaspoons may have lost him the competition.)

Here we are in a sweet induced stupor.
We.  Can't.  Eat.  Another.  ....ing.  Bite.

I think we may have started a long lasting tradition for Valentines Day.  It was exciting, fun and sweet as hell! A really special way to celebrate the one you love, right?  Plus just sitting down together for a proper meal really sparks conversation and reminds me of why I am so in love with this guy!

Something else we decided to continue with is that we buy just one card.  Ernesto read mine and said, "Can I just give this back to you?  It is exactly what I want to say to you [if I had bought you a card.]  Ha!  Ok Neto, as long as you hand write a few sweet words I like that idea.  (You buy it next year though mi amor!)

What did you guys do for Valentines Day?  Anything special?  Any new traditions started??

Happy Valentine's Day

That's Amore......

My valentines day started out with a bang!! I got to work and saw that someone had bought my camera on ebay when I only listed it the night before. woo-hoo! That was great timing because I already ordered a new camera and planned on doing an even exchange. This worked out perfectly, I actually sold my camera for the same price I paid for it one year ago, and bought my new camera at the same price. Yes, Ernesto got a camera for xmas, but that one is tiny and kept it my purse at all times for blogging snaps. This NEW camera pictured here, a Panasonic DMC-TZ3 is comparable to the Kodak V610 I bought last year but the pictures come out so much better. My friend Mendy has it and all her pictures come out perfect, professional even. So I copied off her and now this is the camera I will use for trips and Jewelry shots for my website.

While on ebay I "ran into" this ring.....the auction was ending in 30 minutes and I just fell in love with it. I called Ernesto and asked if wanted to buy it for me for v-day. He said NO, he likes surprises better... so I justified buying it for myself, with the help of my co-worker. We did just get a bonus check (free $$$) from Delta celebrating that we made money for the first time since emerging from bankruptcy....so it was dubbed my "profit sharing ring"
It is 18k gold with a 7 karat blue topaz, one of my favorite stones.
I love big cocktail rings!

Last Friday I read my Daily Candy an email publication that I get every day. It is wonderful! You sign up and they send you daily candies, if you will, telling you all about great stores, restaurants, designers in your city. (I would love to get Pluma in there) This is where I read about the opening of a new restaurant called Amore. The review was great and the name so appropriate for a Valentines Dinner, wouldn't you say? I booked it for 7p, a little early for us, but was all they had avail. The inside was beautifully decorated with Roman columns and moorish archways...perfect lighting and music too. (these 2 things can make or brake a place) They had a set 4 course dinner for V-day, which I didn't know until the waiter handed us the menu. I was so happy with the 3 entree choices (I hate big menus anyway...I can sometimes be a bit indecisive-shocker!? Duck, Steak or Fish. The apps came out as a trio platter of shrimp, scallops and lamb, each with its own flavor. We tried both salad choices one arugula (my favorite lettuce) and the other spinach. Ernesto chose the Rib eye, which was HUGE and I enjoyed the Halibut. Desert did not suck either! Chocolate mousse over a fruit compote with a glass of champagne.

Now you may be wondering how I could eat that when I gave up sweets for the Month of February. Well, just to let you know, I did NOT fail! It was written in the rules before we started that Valentines day would be the one day exception. ok- a 24 hour exception....from 1pm on v-day to 1pm on the 15th. Melanie, our co-worker's baby shower is today and there is going to be cake etc. ITS STILL LEGAL...its one day! So this is me at 101p taking my first bite of a big-ass oatmeal cookie after 2 weeks . ...funny enough, it wasn't as satisfying as I thought it was going to be. I guess the only thing I'm really craving is my black licorice.....and that night after dinner, I got what I wanted......plus some other things!

Ernesto had a orange bag for me with the Hermes perfume I have been asking for since my birthday. He actually bought me some Hermes perfume, but it was the wrong one. Then when we went to exchange it at Macys found out they only carry this Poivre Salamanca at the exclusive Hermes store. Of course when I called to find out if they had it I found out this perfume is double what the other costs. It is the best perfume though...very exotic, and I'm worth every penny!!

That night over dinner Ernesto and I read the lists we had written for each other... "10 things I love about you" it was really sweet. (and funny) Hopeless romantics we are.
Next week we will write the 10 things we don't like:) Do you think Ernesto will be able to come up with 10 things??