A Cheesy Valentine's Day

What's worse than not having a date on Valentine's Day? Try not having a single's get-together to attend to make you feel better about not having a date. This was pretty much my situation till about 2 days before the big day. And really I didn't care this year. All the heart and cupid decorations in the stores didn't bother me much this time around. When all my friends would talk about their V-day plans (and almost all of my friends have significant others at this point), I would start replaying full songs in my head to block out the chatter. I didn't have a boyfriend that was going to disappoint me and I didn't have a relationship to be 'getting over.' So to me, February 14th was just another day. A very cold snowy bitter day...but just another day nonetheless.

My sister, on the other hand, was invited to a "Lonely Hearts" dinner but couldn't bare to leave me alone on V-day cuddled on the couch with my cat...it just seemed all too cliched. Luckily, the host of her party mentioned having a couple cancelations and she took the opportunity to see if it was okay to bring a +1, but not a real date, because of course that is not allowed at this type of dinner.

Meekly, I walked into the apartment to find all of the party's guests already chatting about sipping on red wine. I found myself a glass and began to get comfortable. After one glass, I started talking a bit. After two glasses, I started sharing embarrasing stories and showing some sass. And by my third glass...well then it was time for dinner. Pleasantly surprised, the host brought out the dishes (all seemingly comfort food inspired!). First was his special salad with mangos and goat cheese. Then he brought out the chicken and rice, flavored with mushroom soup (good 'ol Campbell's) and then he came out with my favorite dish--the cheesy carrots casserole. When I asked the host how he made it, he would not oblige. The most I could get out of him was that it was made with "love"; how appropriate for Valentines Day...ha. Anyways, I thought that was a crock, so I obviously went on Google (oh modern technology!) and looked up every recipe I could find. My deduction is this: the casserole has all the average ingredients of a cheesy carrot casserole (carrots, cheese, etc), but he chooses to use Velveeta and maybe instead of bread crumbs some stuffing? I will figure it out...but one thing is for sure, it was damn good. It's not something I would ever think of making on my own but I will definitely try.

By the end of the night I realized this might've been one of my better Valentines Days. Granted it could've been the 6 bottles of wine we drank (to the 7 people drinking), or the chocolate Entenmann's cake that I havent had since I'm like 13, but for one of the first times, V-day exceeded my expectations. I mean last year the guy I was dating went to dinner with his parents and then tried to hang out with me...

While before I thought there was no such thing as good suprises on Valentine's Day...I must say, lesson learned.
Of course there is such a thing as good surprises on February 14th...good company, snow storms and cheesy carrots!