Valentine's Day Dinner

I promised an update on our plan to surprise Dad with a fancy candlelit gourmet dinner. We all looked fabulous, even Mr. Hilarious, who has to be blurred so he can keep his privacy. He says he's an accountant, but I think he may be in the CIA. Or the Mafia, but I don't think they have a strong presence in Indiana.


Our table looked very elegant with our fancy folded napkins, candles, and flowers.



Mr. Hilarious bought us all books and wrote us the sweetest love letters.

Okay. So here's what really happened. When there is a plan with many parts, it usually doesn't work out, and I have to rely on my excellent ability to just wing it while keeping myself from bursting in tears.

The grocery had no steak. Really! Who runs out of steak? I considered taking the three nuts to another grocery store, but instead I sighed and chose a marinated pork tenderloin. Still fancy, but much easier to cook since you just stick it in the oven.

We did not even attempt to make the paper rosettes. We ran out of time, of course. My daughter, the peanut, made the heart snowflakes, but my son, the walnut, refused to make them and made his own regular snowflakes instead. My youngest son, the Pinenut, ripped up both kinds of snowflakes, and they all cried. With a little help from Scotch tape, they were able to salvage enough to cover the windows.



Then it was time to get dressed. My middle nut is the most fashion conscientious in our family and the most excited to get dressed up. Unfortunately, I was not prepared and forgot that the last time he wore dress clothes was two sizes ago. I found him in his room desperately trying to keep it together while he gutted the closet searching for something to wear. Since I keep the bins of to-be-grown-into clothes in the closet, it was a huge mess.



I took a deep breath and shut the door. Then I called Mr. Hilarious and blabbed the surprise. He stopped by Kohl's and bought the Walnut a shirt and tie. He was thrilled. The Pinenut, wearing a complete suit with the tie OUTSIDE the jacket asked Mr. Hilarious, "Where are your pretty clothes?" So even Dad dressed up.

With everyone happy, we sat down to dinner. Of course the timing was off, and the tenderloin took thirty more minutes to cook. The mashed potatoes were cold, and the creamed spinach was soggy, but the wine we drank while we waited was perfect. And the torte for dessert was amazing.

Considering we have three kids and nothing ever goes according to plan, I would say that this Valentine's Day was a perfect!