When I was a kid, I used to throw out all the Valentine’s that said “Be Mine, Valentine” because I thought there was a mistake. It didn’t make sense! If I didn’t throw them out, I’d give them to the kids (boys) I didn’t really like. True story. Not understanding the significance of that comma, every year I would get increasingly frustrated, wondering why on earth the publishers wouldn’t catch the error and write “Be MY Valentine,” instead? I had an ‘ah-ha’ moment somewhere around the 7th grade – having not seen one of the dreaded Valentines in a few years, and having since learned a little more about the many uses of the common comma – and mourned the many trees I had surely killed in the process of throwing away so many Valentines.

Youths! Scoff, scoff.

So, truth be told, I’ve been coming home from work every day and face-planting into bed. The new(ish) job has been taking over my life! I’m certainly enjoying all the hard, hands-on work, but work/life balance has been difficult to achieve and plenty of things have been taking a back seat, including this space.

When it came to Valentine’s Day, then, I knew I wanted to make a delicious and thoughtful meal for F., but there was no time in the day nor space in my brain for extravagant recipe creation, so I got some ideas from things I’d learned or read in the past few weeks.

I’ve been working with one chef, Lyle Kennedy, quite a bit lately. Chef Lyle is exactly the kind of chef I was hoping to come across when I first started this job. I wanted a go-to chef, someone who I could really count on and who would go the extra mile, and I’ve certainly found that with him. A perk of the job is getting to learn a ton from talented professionals, like Lyle, so two of my three dishes actually came from or were inspired by dishes he’s made in our classes. 

1/2 a sheet of puff pastry, covered in about 3/4 cup of mascarpone that has been whipped with sugar.

Take the second 1/2 of of the sheet, cover with an egg wash, and then cover the first half, pinching and sealing the edges. Cut ventilation holes in the top and sprinkle with more sugar. Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes.

Here you can see that the hearts are slightly mangled and rough around the edges. This was my artistic interpretation and attempt to portray the state that our hearts find themselves in adulthood, after a series of misguided relationships, when we finally meet that person who is able to soften and smooth out those rough edges again…

(… or I’m a just terrible artist and always have been. You choose! A good save, though?)

I used Fleur de Sel and slivered almonds, rather than sliced, simply because it’s what I had in my cupboard!

Our main dish was pork tenderloin. When it comes to meat, I’ll eat anything, but I tend to shy away from the actual preparation of it. I usually leave meat up to F. and his BBQ skills. I had no idea how easy it was to prepare something like this tenderloin, however, until I saw Chef Lyle whip some up a few weeks ago. I followed his recipe for Maple Glazed Whole Roasted Pork Tenderloin with Sauteed Apples precisely and was rewarded with sweet, juicy, flavourful, meaty perfection.

Taking pictures in a dark kitchen is rough when you *still* haven’t learned enough about aperture, etc.!

I used some of the white wine syrup (that the peaches were preserved in) and mixed it with whipping cream, then splashed it over our tarts. Our hearts were just brimming over! Oh, yes!

Toward the end of the meal, I spiced up my Prosecco with a few cinnamon hearts. F. did not approve of that flavour combination, but that’s just how I roll, friends.

What did you eat on Valentine’s Day? 

Much, much love to you all.