some love letters

Dear Snow,

I know you've been getting a bad rap lately from disgruntled city folk who just don't appreciate you. They find your soft white blankets irritating and and your plush hills cumbersome. I am here to tell you that they're wrong. Snow, you are beautiful and lovely! I feel like a little girl on Christmas morning every time I wake up and you are there. I marvel at your expansiveness, and get a thrill when my cheeks blush at the cool air that accompanies you. I have always been a winter baby, and I always will be -

Forever yours,
Jacqueline


AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, but sort of in the same vein

We all know Valentine's Day is upon us. Hallmark sees a bump in their sales along with any chocolate purveyor, and if you're beau is so inclined he might give you some frosting, too.

I've never really been a fan of the whole "this is the day that I buy my guy a gift because I'm supposed to" but I am a sucker for any occasion to send my friends little notes of sweet nothings. I actually planned ahead this year and found this great book of vintage pop-out valentines, and Taco helped me write them :-)

I had to show everyone because they're so adorable, and I wish that I had thought to order extra books because there are just not enough. All the valentines in the world wouldn't really be enough to tell my friends and family how much I love them, but I'm going to try anyway. And come one - who doesn't like getting mail (when it's not bills)?

 

 

A Lovely Meal

This is what i came home to yesterday :-)

Boyfriend left work early to surprise me with beautiful flowers, a clean apartment, and one of my current favorites - tea chocolate!! If you've been keeping up with my posts lately you might remember my Mate Dark Chocolate bar. I spotted these bars at the Sweet Life - a candy store on Hester street in New York's LES. They are infused with tea (awesome) and they are delicious!!

(photo from sweet life website)

Our plans last night were very simple. Valentines Day has always revolved around food for us. Our first year together, boyfriend cooked. Last year, I cooked. This year I wanted to explore our neighborhood a little bit so I picked a tiny french restaurant just a brisk walk from our apartment. It was cozy and casual and perfect. I tasted beef tartare for the first time and had pork tenderloin with brussels sprouts that were loaded with flavor. At the end of the meal we were given lollipops - also tasty - and we couldn't help but feel nostalgic and childish as we walked home.

Would you come out tonight?

So. Blizzard Nemo is setting in.

The bridge and tunnel crowd is running for the hills.

Supposedly the snow is piling up... somewhere.

Here in midtown there is a seemingly endless supply of wind and slush. The watery mixture falling from the sky is putting a damper on my snow day. I'd much rather a pretty white dusting than all this mess. Albeit I am stuck at work, but no one else seems to be so it's as if I've got the place to myself - stress free. 

I brought some snacks with me to work today because I had a funny feeling that my lunch coverage would be staying home. I've been picking away at this chocolate bar for awhile, savoring a little bit every night. I figured I might as well enjoy the rest of it today. I found this dark chocolate bar infused with yerba mate (an herbal tea) and bits of raw cacao at The Sweet Life - a small boutique candy shop by my apartment in the LES. It went really well with the sherry I had as a night cap yesterday. 

Boyfriend and I bought a bottle of Harveys Bristol Cream (a spanish sherry that's imported to and bottled in Bristol, England) and we cracked it open last night after dinner. We had first tried it over ice at a wedding last summer and loved it but then soon forgot about it. It wasn't until Food and Wine Mag's recent article exclusively on the growing popularity of Sherry that I recalled Harveys and immediately craved a glass. 

Since tonight will be a slushy mess I'll probably wind up staying in. Drinking sherry :-)

Will you be brave enough to step out in the storm?