Valentine's Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts

We just returned from a Hawaiian vacation this week so for Valentine's Day this year, I decided to make Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts with the macadamia nuts I brought home with me. I made them just like I always do using this recipe with the addition of Valentine sprinkles such as these. I put them in clear treat bags such as these and tied them with a cute Valentine ribbon; an easy, fun, yummy and quick Valentine gift. I took seven bags over to my sister's house who hosted a Valentine's dinner party.

My brother-in-law will often prepare a really nice dinner for us ladies on Valentine's Day and all the men will wait on us and we even get cute little presents. My kind of evening.

That is why I decided to contribute my Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts for everyone because I know what a festive evening this turns out to be.

My sister, Barbara, does such a good job decorating and setting a beautiful dinner table for us that makes us feel so special on this day celebrating those we love.

One guest brought fortune cookies and after we sat down at the table, we went around and read our fortunes one-by-one. After we read our fortune, we had to say "...in the bedroon". You can use your imagination and guess that our fortunes were pretty hilarious. That was a fun little game. Our main entree was an Ina Garten recipe for slow cooked roast pork butt along with the most delicious baked potatoes, roasted carrots, cole slaw, corn muffins and dessert was an amazing raspberry panna cotta.

Even though we had a lot of wonderful meals during our Hawaiian vacation, this meal was on the top of the list, for sure. I was glad to get back from our vacation in time for Valentine's day. I always love celebrating this holiday, as does most people in my family. My sister Jolene's birthday is on Valentine's Day so my mom would always make a heart shaped cake which I thought was the neatest cake ever. Our dinner on Valentine's Day growing up was a very special occasion because of my sister's birthday. And now it just continues even though that sister lives clear across the country but we still celebrate her, too. Happy Valentine's Day everybody and Happy Birthday, Jolene!

Comments

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Oatmeal, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I don't have very many gluten-free cookies on my blog because quite frankly, I usually don't like gluten-free. But occasionally, I do find a good recipe and this is one that is from the back of the Trader Joe's oatmeal and it's a good one. My friend brought some over to our house last weekend when Nick and family were here for our birthday celebrations and we all loved them. My friend lives a few blocks away and we walk the neighborhood together on weekends. We can easily go 5 miles in no time, talking non-stop. She loves exploring our neighborhood as much as I do and we discover so many favorite little spots. We even found a property with a horse (or more like a pony, I should say.) The views are always quite lovely, too. Bruce and I had our thirty-ninth wedding anniversary on July 18th and I made a point of walking past the house where we had our wedding reception. I told my friend, "Thirty-nine years ago today, t...

Meatloaf by Mark Bittman

Once again, I turned on the television yesterday and saw that Mark Bittman was on the Today show and was making his version of meatloaf . This must be meatloaf season. It was surprisingly similar to the Pioneer Woman's version who was also recently on. I was a little surprised of his version because Mark Bittman is into healthy eating and has lost a lot of weight and improved his health by changing his diet which he writes about in his book, Food Matters . His meatloaf recipe also included bacon and cheese! I must be doing something wrong. The thing to remember, which he writes about in his book, is that you can eat healthy without going extreme or changing your whole life. If you don't know who Mark Bittman is, he is a food writer and a four star chef with multiple cookbooks who loves to eat but changed his food philosophy to improve his health. He tells his story in Food Matters and provides ...

Top Pot Doughnuts

I just returned from another weekend in Seattle and for the first time, I actually went to a Top Pot Doughnut shop. I've had their doughnuts before because they serve them at Starbuck's and I've seen their shops in Seattle when I visit because there is now one right across the street from our old house in Wedgwood. Now, our daughter, lives in another old neighborhood of mine on Capitol Hill and right around the corner from her house is a Top Pot. There were not eateries like this in my old neighborhoods when I lived in Seattle. And our daughter literally lives steps away from my old house on Capitol Hill where I lived when I was her age. There are so many more luxuries and temptations lurking around the corner in Seattle neighborhoods more so than when I lived there but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. Being that I'm one that mostly gives in to temptation, it's probably a good thing they didn't exist when I lived there. ...

Sylvia's Scenario

Search This Blog