Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful

Valentine's Day.

Well, I threw our "menu plan" out the window...

(That didn't take long!)

and opted for something a little different last night.

I decided we needed to do something special.

Started out with just a special dessert.

Then it morphed into a special dinner.

Then that morphed into a  

quiet (kinda) dinner for 2

after we fed the kids.

I went to the store to get steaks and lobster tails.

And the fixins for a small cheesecake.

Got enough for everyone.

Then as we walked from the grocery store

to the UPS store (to ship something),

we passed a local 

"Take and Bake Pizza Place"

They had a picture advertising a 

heart shaped pizza for $7...

hmmm...that is interesting.

So on the way back from the UPS store, 

we stopped in.

And wound up with their 

Sweetheart Special.

(disclaimer - the following pictures are mainly for my 

dad - I thought he would get a kick out of them, 

so just enjoy!)

Un-baked Heart Shaped Pepperoni Pizza

\

Baked Heart Shaped Pepperoni Pizza

Un-baked S'mores Dessert Pizza

Final product:

And I got this bright idea to feed the kids first

then put a movie on

and daddy and I could actually enjoy a (semi) quiet

dinner.

I think the S'mores pizza was a hit based on the 

resulting s'mores pizza faces...

and chocolate teeth!

(and as you know from previous posts - 

the quality and focus of pictures are hit or miss

so do your best to kinda enjoy)

Once we got the kids situated we moved on to...

The adult menu:

Parmesan Crusted NY Strip

Broiled Lobster Tails

Salad with Blue Cheese & Cranberries

Baked Potato

and

Individual Key Lime Cheesecakes

with Strawberry Sauce

and

Pink Champagne

Turned out PERFECT!

All of it.

The lobster tails were the BEST I have ever had

(I can't tell you the last time I had lobster, but these were AMAZING!)

The cheesecakes were a combination of recipes.

I used the ingredients from one and used 1/3 of the recipe

(math came in handy here)

and the cooking instructions from another recipe

and 

IT WORKED!

Definitely will be done again.

Pre-baked cheese-cup-cakes

Final product:

The kids were great, 

except for the occasional uninvited guest appearances

by the baby/bird/lap monkey.

The kids got a combined present of a fish tank.

And their goal is to have one like their Uncle Jack.

BIG goal, but gotta start somewhere.

Here is what they are aiming for:  

 Every one worked together to get the aquarium up and running.

(Is this where the cord goes?)

(J & L rinsing the rocks for the tank)

More rock rinsing...didn't know we could fit this 

many people in that little bathroom!!

Or that rinsing rocks could be a 

spectator sport!

The full, yet uninhabited, aquarium.

We will keep you posted on the fish as we acquire and name them.