For Valentine's Day, Roger took me out to Alchemist, a restaurant neither of us had been to. Their Heart Day dinner was warm camembert crostini with onion marmalade, pan seared veal loin and local prawns with prawn bisque and potato gnocchi, and profiteroles filled with vanilla bean ice cream with warm chocolate sauce and toasted almonds. (I kept the menu.) Roger ordered the french onion soup and the lamb duo (rack of lamb provincale and braised lamb cheeks with caramelized yam) from the regular menu and the sorbet for dessert.

We had fun dressing up and going out for a special occasion, though as we walked to the restaurant, we realized we'd both forgotten to put our wedding rings after our showers. The lights in the dining room were low, the table candlelit. A variety of small gatherings were there--a couple with one of their mothers, several tables hosted pairs of couples, and the last group of the night was a party of eight.

What we liked best was being able to sit across the table from each other. Realizing that we are in the same space (the same time zone!) is one of our recurring delights.

And then, as though it weren't enough that Roger and I got to actually, finally be face-to-face on Valentine's Day, we got a phone call this morning from Overwaitea, our grocery store, telling Roger that he'd won the Valentine's Day gift basket from the deli counter. Woohoo!

I would've taken a picture of it, but before we'd gotten home, we had is dismantled. Bits and pieces had already been shared between us and a friend we stopped to see.

In the basket:

• Crackers
• Grueyere and brie
• Shortbread cookies
• A jar of chile pepper jelly
• Ferraro Rocher chocolate hazelnut balls
• Lindt truffles
• De-alcoholized champagne
• Gift certificate for a pedicure

Guess who gets the pedicure. :)



The basket came with a big tacky Valentine's Day balloon, which we thought might make a fun cat distractor. (She was unfazed, for the most part.)