Valentine's Day

Jim & I have never really celebrated Valentine's Day. But as luck would have it, I ended up having a day off on Wednesday which was ideal, because we got our biggest snowstorm of the year, so far, on Tuesday night. No digging out for me. I stayed cozy inside. I decided that I would actually do a little something to celebrate the day. I had to work with what I had, and this is what we ended up with.





We started out with some bubbly! This sparkling wine is from a fantastic Ontario winery, 13th Street. This wine is made in the traditional method or Methode Champenoise, basically meaning they make it like they do in Champagne with the second fermentation happening in the bottle. Some sparkling wines are made in huge tanks with the second fermentation taking place in those tanks. Those wines would be called Charmat Method. At 13th Street they make all of their sparkling wines in the traditional method.
This particular one is a blend of Pinot Noir & Chardonnay and was aged in this bottle for 3 years. It had a wonderful toasty, nutty flavour with a hint of apple. Very delicious!


For dinner, we had Oh Naturel! Chick'n Cordon Melts which I had blogged about a few months ago. They seemed like a sort of romantic food - fitting for Valentine's Day. I served that with some garlicy brown rice and Quick Roast Green Beans and Peppers from The Everyday Vegan.



For dessert, I made chocolate cupcakes using a tried & true recipe from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

I iced them with buttercream frosting and decorated with little heart-shaped gumdrops.

My other sweetheart also got a Valentine's treat. Here's Simon obviously enjoying a Greenie. At our house, everyday is Valentine's Day for Simon!