2/14/2011 - Day 30(!) - Happy Valentine's Day :)

For Valentine's Day, DBF & I decided to just stay home & have a quiet, romantic night to ourselves. We got all dressed up, cooked dinner together, savored our meal at the table leisurely while enjoying each others' company & then watched the movie Scott Pilgrim vs. the World together. It was lovely :) 

Now, I know that some people hate Valentine's Day. I've heard many impassioned arguments & while I agree that we should show our love to each other every day, not just once a year & that Valentine's Day as the dayyoushouldbuylotsofjewelryandflowersoryouaretheworstmanintheworldandyouregoingtohellOMG holiday of post-Christmas over-consumption is disgusting, I still LOVE Valentine's Day! Valentine's Day is a day set aside to celebrate LOVE! Love yourself, love your friends, love your significant other, love your family! It's LOVE Day! I just love Love, don't you? Best of all, love is FREE! Despite the messaging of advertisers everywhere, you can celebrate Love Day for $0. Give a hug, smile at a stranger, call-up a friend you haven't heard from in a while, all of these are ways to spread the love :)

Our Love Day meal was New York steak (from Skagit River Ranch), with Wild Boar ravioli (from Pasteria Lucchese), topped with a mushroom Camembert truffle cream sauce, plus broccolini with butter on the side.

Marinated steak

• Worcestershire sauce
• Balsamic Vinegar
• olive oil
• minced garlic
• Trader Joe's Every Day Seasoning
• garlic salt
• other spices to taste

I like to mix-up my marinade in a plastic bag & then throw the steaks in the bag, toss to coat & let sit in the fridge for a while. You can put whatever you want in the marinade, but the above list is my fail-safe list of ingredients. I'll often throw in some Italian Spice blend or whatever fresh herbs I have on hand. I've even been known to dump in the last of a bottle of whatever oil & vinegar based salad dressing I have languishing in the fridge. YUM!

I reprised my Mushroom Camembert Cream Sauce from a couple weeks ago, but it seems I've missed truffle season :( I was not able to acquire any fresh truffles, so I used Mt. Townsend Trufflestack cheese instead of plain Camembert. It's essentially their standard Camembert cheese but with truffles in it, so the effect was pretty much the same :)

We pan sauteed the broccolini with butter, boiled the pasta per the package instructions, grilled the steaks to a perfect medium-rare and VOILA! Delicious, romantic Valentine's Day dinner for two :)