A SWEET Valentines Day!

Oops.  One more holiday I forgot.  Valentines Day.

Usually my boys hand stamp all of the valentines that they bring to school, but this year we decided to try something new - photo valentines with real lollypops.  They were so easy and were a big hit!  Caleb's teacher stuck his on the white board and it stayed there in front of the class the rest of the year.

I had a very special treat!  My dear friend, Diane Caress, who I have visit taught for years, called me out of the blue and asked me if she could bring me something.  She brought over this amazing red velvet cheesecake... just because!  

It was truly incredible!  That woman's cheesecake are famous, and this one really was spectacular!  What a real treat.  Thanks you Diane.

(On a side note:  I thought that it was such a nice idea that I decided to make this same cheesecake to surprise another friend. 

FAIL.  

It was a total disaster.  You wouldn't believe it.  First, while it was mixing, I opened the cupboard above it and the cupcake wrappers fell out of the cupboard and right into the mixer as it was spinning away!  The problem was that they were white wrappers and it was a white cheesecake mixture at the point, and my reflexes are not quick.  I thought I had fished out most of the papers, but when I poured the cheesecake, I discovered more  bits of torn paper.  Grrr. And then I put it in the oven to bake.  And, long story short, I decided to run a quick errand  while it was baking, got in a fender bender of all things,  and by the time I got home the cheesecake was very brown and cracked from baking way too long.  So I mean it when I say my cheesecake, that looked nothing like this beautiful perfect specimen of Diane's, was a total FAIL!  She is a cheesecake genius, and I appreciate that now more than ever.)

I had a bit more success here.  My friend Shari is a chocolate making diva, so we decided to get together and make chocolates for Valentines day this year.

  It was a very warm day which does not lend itself to making chocolates, so we shut the blinds and put the AC all the way down as cold as it would go in her guest room, and dipped our chocolates in there.  We called it our chocolate cave!  It smelled so good in there!  I think every home should have a chocolate cave!

We dipped homemade fudge, homemade butterfingers, Nutter-Butter truffles, and dipped pretzels in the extra chocolate.  They all turned out delicious.  And it was so fun to do.  Thanks Shari.  A girl can't have a sweeter valentines day than lollipops, cheesecake, and a chocolate cave, can she?