Valentine's Recap!

Hello all! Hope you ladies had a wonderful Valentine's Day! After my haircut, PreppyBF had a surprise dinner to a Japanese steakhouse place (the ones with the grill in front of you, my faveee) Thank goodness he had reservations! Unforrrrtunately, we got seated with 3 other couples, which would've been fine if they weren't in MIDDLE SCHOOL! We both felt like we were chaperoning. No these "couples" weren't the shy kind either. They were making out probably half the time, the other half was holding hands or feeding each other. Gross. Needless to say PreppyBF and I spent most of the time staring at each other or the food to avoid looking at tweens canoodling. The food was good though!

Afterwards, we went back to PreppyBF's house. He made me close my eyes and guided me into the dining room. After he sat me down, he let me open my eyes and revealed this!
At first, I rudely said, WHAT IS IT?? haha I wasn't sure if it was a brownie or cake or just a heart shaped chocolate. Poor BF made me Ghiradelli chocolate brownies that he saw on the Food Network! What a sweetheart! They were good, a little dry (the recipe only called for some vegetable oil and an egg? I don't know how they wouldn't be dry!) They would've been perfect with some vanilla ice cream. I really loved that he tried to bake for me, super sweet of him :-)

Saturday I wanted to cook for the fam but we didn't have time! My sister was having a joint-dinner birthday party with her friends and my mom was in charge of making desserts! I helped her out, we made cupcakes, chocolate covered strawberries, and chocolate dipped pretzel rods! My mom also made her signature "candy cake." She wraps cookie tins in paper and forms it into a tiered cake shape. Then she hot glues fun size candies to it, always color coordinating. She did a pink and red theme (since all the valentines candy was in stores.) On the bottom tier, she also glued those roll up- noisemakers to make it more festive. Definitely a quick and easy hit of the party!

So Sunday I made dinner. I used a recipe from Bobby Flay's Grill It! It was aaaaamazing. I did shrimp and chicken since my bro doesn't like seafood (loser!) Here's the recipe!

• Cook Time-15 min.

• Level-easy

• Yield- 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup smoked sweet paprika
• 2 tablespoons ancho chili powder
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 pounds (21 to 24) large shrimp, shell on
• 6 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 12 cloves coarsely chopped fresh garlic, divided
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced green onion

Directions:

Whisk together the paprika, ancho powder, brown sugar, cumin, salt and pepper in a small bowl.Place the shrimp in a large bowl, add the spice rub and stir well to coat each shrimp.

Heat your grill to high. Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil on the grates of the grill over high heat in a large cast iron or saute pan; add half of the shrimp and half of the garlic and cook until just cooked through, 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in half of the green onions and transfer to a large platter or turn out onto brown paper bags. Wipe out of the pan with paper towels, and repeat with the remaining ingredients.

* I did it with unshelled de-veined shrimp and chicken and it worked great. I also used a vented piece of aluminum foil for the chicken so it didn't stick to the grill. Bf's cousin did the recipe with toasted sesame seeds so it broke up the spicey-ness a little bit. You will drink a lot of water if you're senstitive to the heat. Enjoy!!

Afterwards, the fam minus sister (she had other plans..boooo) and BF watched Tropic Thunder. It was hilariiouss! A little politically incorrect but definitely funny. I kept laughing at Robert Downey Jr. playing an Australian playing an African American. His accent cracccked me up! Go rent it!

wow.. long post! If you made it this far, kudos to youu! Have a wonderful evening!