Valentine's day is just around the corner.....

What a rainy day....oh bother! What do you think I did? Well I couldn't stop thinking about Valentine's Day on Sunday and spending time with my baby : ) So I made my version of Paul Deen's red velvet cake, I call it "Brown Velvet Cake" since I didn't have any red food coloring (plus I don't like to color foods weird colors). Mixer action:

My Grandma also gave me a silicone heart mold for Christmas. I made half the batch in the mold and the other half as mini cupcakes:

 

 

They were sort of oily. Apparently other people thought that of the recipe too, I guess I should have read the comments before I made the recipe. Next time I will adjust! I wanted to decorate them with the Butter Icing recipe from the 1961 cook book (pg 172), but I didn't put together my icing bag quite right and it exploded on me, so I just had to do this without a tip on the bag:

At least they look festive, right?

Of course I had to try out the new dutch oven today so I made Chicken Cacciatore from the Southern Living Cook book (pg 390). Cooking the chicken (I know it looks sort of burnt):

 

But with everything else added it looks spectacular:

 

And over pasta it tasted great:

 

While I was eating dinner, look what showed up at the door:

 

Mike got me an Azalea bonsai from 1-800-flowers for Valentines day!!!! It was to make up for the fact that when we were in Ohio my little bonsai died. Look how pretty (even before it blooms):

 

And for the enjoyment of all the northerners while I sit here in my 55 degree weather, here is Mike shoveling out of a snow storm back in 2008 in Ohio: