Saturday, February 14, 2004
Installed a new version of ATI MMC (which was released 2 days ago) to resolve some stability problems. Breakfast: cherry danish. Burned new copies of and printed labels for Patrick's mix cd: Mello 03. Lunch: leftover mushroom pizza and salad. Installed home server updates. Picked up some exquisite chocolate truffles for $19.00 at Joseph Schmidt (3489-16th Street) and a bunch of miniature roses for $27.13 after tax at Not Just Flowers (4109-18th Street) while Patrick was at home making a special dinner. Valentine's and Our 4th Anniversary Dinner, a four-course menu: 1. Les Bookinistes' Cream of Corn Soup, served over pan-fried shiitake and chanterelle mushrooms, shallots, and chives, then drizzled with hazelnut oil and celery salt. 2. A salad of curly endive, butcher's bacon, and Roquefort cheese, with French vinaigrette. 3. La Cagouille's Sea Scallops with warm vinaigrette and finely-diced tarragon, chives, and Italian parsley, served with Wild Mushroom Risotto (porcini, chanterelle, shiitake, and crimini mushrooms). 4. Dark Cherry Creme Brulee, with a pirouette cookie, following Tina's very delicious recipe, and with her invaluable assistance over the cell phone. Dinner also included warm Semifreddi's pugliese, a bottle of Apollinaris ("the queen of all table waters") and a dipping of olive oil with balsamic vinegar, as well as a very special printed menu, which rhymed each of the dishes with a poem about our four years together. Before he sugared and fired the creme brulee, we watched A Charlie Brown Valentine from TV. I washed dishes. This was easily the best meal Patrick has ever made for me, and I feel lucky to have his gourmet skills in addition to his devoted love.