by Leighton Maynard
Valentine’s Day is filled with love, relationships, and, perhaps most importantly, delicious food. Some people like to sit at home on Valentine’s Day and eat some chocolates by themselves. Others share a juicy steak at a candlelight dinner with their loved ones. And still others like to cook or bake something to give to friends or their partners.
I figured I would head to the kitchen to whip up a few recipes that I might share with my…well, my family. (I’m not dating anyone right now, as Tanisha Naik likes to remind me.) I wanted to get a feel for particular Valentine’s Day foods that people enjoy, and on the survey, the primary response I got was chocolate. So I figured I’d use chocolate as the foundation of my Valentine’s Day dessert.
I searched Pinterest for ideas for all the foods I could make. There were so many mouthwatering foods that selecting just a few recipes, with a limited budget, was tough. Eventually, I decided to make heart-shaped pizzas, strawberry lemonade, chocolate-covered Oreos, and chocolate-covered strawberries.
I don’t have a lot of counter space in my kitchen, so I had to clean my kitchen entirely to make some room. Then I forced my sister to drive me to the store to collect all the necessary supplies. Once I got home, I was ready to begin cooking.
The first dish I started with was the heart-shaped pizzas. I can’t say the pizzas were utterly homemade because I got premade dough. I began to roll out the dough and shape them into hearts. Then I slashed some tomato sauce on them and spread on the cheese. At first, I tried to cut the pepperonis into hearts with kitchen scissors. I failed, so I just put the normal circular pepperonis on the pizza. Once that process was over, it was time to put them into the oven.
After I finished with the main course and put it into the oven, I could only hope that the pizza would stay in heart shapes and wouldn’t, ahem, break
It was time to begin on the strawberry lemonade. I could have gone the easy way and bought premade lemonade packets, but I took the easy way out on the pizzas, so I wasn’t going to take the easy way out on this. (There are no shortcuts with love!)
I first started by washing the fresh strawberries and putting them into a bowl. Then I cut the stems off them and mixed them with honey. After the strawberries were mixed and honeyed, I put them into a pan and cooked them on medium heat. This process was complex because I didn’t want to make the strawberries burn. As soon as I realized the strawberries had gotten all their juice drained out of them, I was ready to put the strawberries in the filter. This process was challenging because I needed more strawberries to make the juice. Because of this finite amount of liquid, I realized I would be in short supply of lemonade. I poured the strawberry juice into the bottom of the glasses, then squeezed in some lemon juice. After the lemon juice, I put in sugar water to top it off. My lemonade was complete and ready to be served.
I served strawberry lemonade and heart-shaped pizzas for the main course. My family was entirely surprised by the presentation. I had laid out the pizza on a lovely platter, and around the pizza hearts, I put mozzarella balls to top off the look. I put the lemonade in wine glasses from my parent’s wedding… which was quite a surprise for my mom. Maybe not so much of a good one. I put placemats down and set the table. I put long white candles on my table to set the tone and aesthetic of a candle-lit Valentine’s day dinner. (Tanisha is right. I did wish I had someone other than my family to set the table for…)
By the time I’d set the table, and finished the three hours of food prep, my parents’ stomachs were rumbling. It was time to serve. We said a quick blessing and went in to eat. I first grabbed a bite of my pizza, and my first thought was…terrible. I’m sure my parents thought the same, probably because the pizza was cold and barely had any sauce. My brother was the first to comment that it was not the best, but the rest of my family put on fake smiles and ate the food (even dates sometimes require fake smiles, I guess, and reminding yourself that it’s the thought that counts).
After I had a horrible bite of sauceless cold pizza, I was excited to take a sip of refreshing cold lemonade. I sipped my lemonade and spat it right back into the cup. Horrible. It was way too bitter, and I couldn’t taste the strawberries. All my time and hard work making each food and drink went precisely to waste for some lousy pizza and bitter lemonade that didn’t qualify as lemonade.
After the atrocious dinner, I needed to step up my game with dessert. (Yes, those three hours didn’t include making dessert. Sigh.). I rushed to the kitchen, melted some chocolate in a double-boiler, and went to work. I slowly cooked the chocolate so it wouldn’t burn and cut and washed my strawberries. I melted some white and milk chocolate to see the different consistencies. I dipped the freshly cut and washed strawberries into the chocolate and put them on a platter to dry. Then I got some Oreos and dropped them into the chocolate to see how it would taste and look. This time I could have made the presentation better than the first one because I was very burned out from the main course. My sister tried the strawberries first, and her face lit up. I was so exhilarated to see her bright-lit face, and I had finally completed my mission. Once all the meals were made and eaten, I was exhausted.
This whole experience made me much more appreciative of my mom.
