It's almost Valentine's Day. I don't know about you, but I have always had a love/hate relationship with Valentine's Day. I find it a ridiculously contrived holiday. Part of me hates this, but part of me just adores it! So cheesy. So silly and over the top. I confess that Valentine's Day has not normally gone all that well for me with a couple of rare exceptions. But I think it was my own fault for not being REALLY REALLY clear about what I would love. This year, since there is no one in particular to tell, I figured I'd just tell EVERYONE! Heh. Maybe I'll actually get some of it this time! Ok. I'm a bit of a paradox when it comes to what I like. Most of the time I am rather unconventional in my tastes. But on Valentine's Day, I'm all about the traditions. Really, I'm a simple woman at heart. I swear!
I'd love to wake up to a box of Hot Chocolatier chocolates,
a bottle of Larmandier-Bernier Terre-de-Vertus,
and some confection from La Pelrla.
Yeah, I did. I put knickers on my blog. And?
Once that's all be put to its best uses, I confess that a dozen red roses would be FABULOUS! Hell, I'd settle for tulips! (I actually prefer them anyway.)
Dinner would be just lovely too. A little pan seared foie gras with crostini topped with evoo and toasted pistachios. Ok, who needs dinner. Just the foies gras and some more champagne!
Dessert is an absolute necessity. And because no one can (well, I can't anyway) have enough chocolate...
This chocolate chestnut cake covered in Nutella makes me swoon. This ought to be fabulous with champagne too! How convenient!
SWOON.
Now, here's the part I like best... I'd like to do all this from the comfort of one of these chairs in Turks and Caicos:
That about covers it. See. Simple.
Happy Valentine's Day from Wine Ophelia
Cheers!
photos are from the links I mention.
ReplyDeleteEnglish version of chocolate chestnut cake:
ReplyDelete250 g dark chocolate
Nutella 200 g
200 g of marron glacé (candied chestnuts)
125 g of butter
4 eggs
50 g sugar
50 g flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (or sugar)
Preparation:
1) Reduce the chocolate into small pieces and dissolve in a water bath. Stir in butter, then remove from heat and add egg yolks, Nutella, the flour and chopped marron glacé previously, for mixing the ingredients well.
2) Whip the egg whites aside with the sugar, then incorporate the mixture. Pour the mixture into a baking pan lined with parchment paper and bake the cake in a preheated oven at 150 ° C for one hour.
3) When cooked, misshapen cake and sprinkle with cocoa or icing sugar . Serve the cake cold.