Valentine's

This year we got two Valentine's celebrations.  We took the girls to Victoria on Wednesday to play with Papa and had the whole day to ourselves as an early Valentine's date.  We had lunch outside in the beautiful sunshine at the delicious Tacofino food truck.  Always delicious! We walked around downtown and I looked around a little Italian market for polenta and a better quality risotto rice than I currently have.  Success on both accounts.  We got our traditional Valentine's chocolates at Roger's.  We also walked the breakwater (first time since the guardrails were installed) before our movie.  We saw Monuments Men- we enjoyed it.  If you are interested in that topic manner and you thought looking at the preview that you would like it- you probably will.  If it's not an area you find interesting, you will probably think it's slow and boring.  For dinner we finally tried Pescatores.  I have mixed reviews.  I will try it again before passing judgement. 

Friday I successfully photographed my sweet girls.  First time K has ever sat so still for me.  Because we had our out of the house date on Wednesday, we planned an in home night together.  We put the girls to bed after their dinner of KD and had our own special dinner.  I whipped up a delicious bistro-inspired meal:
Appetizer: Bruschetta
Entree: Slow Braised Beef Short Ribs with a Red Wine Sauce over a Pea+Parmesan Risotto with Roasted Asparagus on the side
Dessert: Lime Tart
It was absolutely lovely.  So happy risotto is now something I can do.  Also, note to self and anyone else trying risotto in their own kitchen- arborio is fine and is most easily available BUT if you can get your hands on Carnaroli it really does make a difference and it's barely more expensive. (Recipes for this dinner on my Tested and Approved Pinterest board and soon probably my recipe blog).

We ended our night with a retro movie- "Say Anything".  We thought it was appropriate for the night and neither of us had ever managed to see it before.  Also, my Valentine's gift was a new kitchen gadget: a hand held kitchen torch.  Looks like it will be creme brulee for our anniversary....