Valentine's Day and Other Stuff

Me and my Valentine. We've kind of given up trying to get near a restaurant on Valentine's Day . . . fighting crowds isn't our idea of a romantic evening. However, we do make Valentine's Day dinner at home, complete with flowers on the table and some kind of candle light (and of course a couple of bottles of bubbly apple cider). This year we made molten lava cakes for dessert, recipe compliments of my good friend LaVerna. Also, Rachel treated us by making some delicious chocolate dipped strawberries. Yum! My niece, Erin, was visiting us from BYU Idaho for the holiday week-end...we love it when Erin comes. Scott and Rachel went to a dance put on by her parents Stake and the rest of us played some cards . . . Rook to be exact. I got shellacked two games in a row. I hate it when that happens!
Laura, Joran and Erin helping themselves to Molten Lava Cakes with ice cream.
Scott and Rachel on their way to dance the night away!
This is the hat that I wore as one of Kim's many "spirit bearers" as she was taken from the church by the pall bearers. I wish I had a picture of all of her sisters and friends in their red hats and boas lining the walk way. (See yesterday's blog)

Brent sneakin' a chocolate strawberry! Who can resist?
Okay . . . what does all this produce have to do with anything? On Sunday, after all the Molten Lava Cakes, chocolate strawberries, cheesecake and other rich food that we'd been eating, I was hungry for something fresh and summery tasting. I was looking through my recipes (on the computer) and found the recipe for "Island Salsa" that Jenette Jenkins gave me years ago. I liked this recipe so well that I included it in the Hale family cookbook that they had published a few years back. I had the ingredients all washed up and ready to go and decided that it made a pretty picture so here it is. Yeah, I know I'm weird Laura. Just remember that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree! I've included the recipe in the permanent part of my blog site. Til next time!