{"id":3449,"date":"2014-02-14T13:58:19","date_gmt":"2014-02-14T18:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.katrinakenison.com\/?p=3449"},"modified":"2014-02-14T13:58:19","modified_gmt":"2014-02-14T18:58:19","slug":"celebrating-valentines-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/katrinakenison.com\/new\/celebrating-valentines-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Valentine’s Day (stories, music, & two irresistible cookie recipes)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hearts\"\u201cAnd, in the end, the love you take\u00a0is equal to the love you make.\u201d \u00a0 ~ Paul McCartney<\/em><\/p>\n

Hearts:<\/span><\/h3>\n

W<\/span>hen my sons were young, we always made Valentines.\u00a0 It was a joy for me to join my boys at our old Formica table in the playroom and, for a few February afternoons each year, devote ourselves to frilly matters of the heart.<\/p>\n

Of course, we went all out. Our supplies were bountiful: stacks of construction paper, doilies, paper hearts, pink ribbons, lace, glue sticks and lots of sparkly stuff.\u00a0 And the lavish creations borne of our efforts pleased us greatly.\u00a0 Valentine’s Day was easy to celebrate: cozy, hands-on, messy fun.\u00a0 Love made visible.<\/p>\n

I still have our old box of Valentine paraphernalia in the basement, though it\u2019s been over a decade since the three of us made cards together and the glue sticks have no doubt turned rock-hard.\u00a0 I considered the box briefly the other day: should I carry it all upstairs?\u00a0 Sit down by myself and cut up a few red doilies for old times’ sake?\u00a0 No, I realized, that would just feel weird.<\/p>\n

\"photo\"I<\/span>nstead, I satisfied my hands-on urge by making some grown-up Valentines for the \u00a0people I carry closest to my heart.\u00a0 Baking these cookies turned out to be as pleasurably messy as the arts and crafts productions of old \u2013 and even more gratifying: \u00a0the results were edible.<\/p>\n

So, a new tradition is born, I think, \u00a0thanks to two recipes that are most definitely keepers. (Scroll down for my recipes for Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Hearts<\/strong> and Dark Chocolate Espresso Hearts<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

\"chocolate<\/p>\n

A Valentine’s Day story<\/span>:<\/h3>\n

M<\/span>y husband and I mark Valentine’s Day as the anniversary of our falling in love nearly thirty years ago, over the course of a long-planned weekend alone at my parents\u2019 house on the coast of Maine. \u00a0We’d been dating on and off for a couple of years by then, though not seriously or, on his part, exclusively. I was living in New York City and he was in Cambridge. \u00a0He was ten years older, we were different in every way (as he liked to remind me) and, although I was crazy about him, our prospects for long-term togetherness seemed discouraging at best.<\/p>\n

As we drove north from Logan, Steve took his eyes from the road for a moment, glanced my way, handed me a small tin of chocolates and said something like, \u201cI’ve been thinking about you this week. And I finally just said to myself, \u2018this girl is a peach.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the closest he’d come to acknowledging any serious feelings for me; perhaps it was even a declaration of sorts from this guy who\u2019d been insisting since we met that although he liked me well enough, I just wasn’t his type. \u00a0I was a peach<\/em>? \u00a0 That seemed to me a positive sign: don’t give up all hope, but proceed with caution.<\/p>\n

We arrived at my parent\u2019s vacation house after dark, to discover that we\u2019d been booby trapped. My mom and her friend had spend the previous weekend at the house, \u00a0\u201cdecorating\u201d on our behalf.<\/p>\n

There were hearts and flowers on every surface.\u00a0 Cupids taped to the windows.\u00a0 Candles strategically placed.\u00a0 A book of love poetry open on the table, which was set for two with red cloth napkins and champagne glasses and a scattering of heart confetti.\u00a0 There were new sheets on the bed, hearts balloons dangling from the light fixtures, Brie and champagne in the fridge.<\/p>\n

I was mortified.<\/p>\n

Having guarded my own smitten heart so carefully, lest it be broken by this man who seemed certain we weren\u2019t meant to last, I’d \u00a0just had my cover totally blown \u2013 by my own mother.\u00a0 Not<\/em> funny.<\/p>\n

Steve laughed.<\/p>\n

Shaking, heart pounding in my chest, I went through the house without even taking off my coat, gathering up all the offending knick-knacks and cupids, my face redder than any Valentine.\u00a0 By the time I got back to the kitchen, Steve had opened the champagne and lit the candles.\u00a0 I don\u2019t remember exactly what he said then, but the gist of it was:\u00a0 \u201cWell, I guess we could fight this, or we could just give in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three months later, he asked me to marry him.\u00a0\u00a0 (I still have the little heart-shaped candy tin he gave me all those years ago; it\u2019s near the washing machine, full of extra shirt buttons.)<\/p>\n

Music:<\/span><\/h3>\n

W<\/span>hat would Valentine\u2019s Day be without a love song?\u00a0 This is the one I\u2019ve been playing all week (although I still can\u2019t seem to listen to it without tears in my eyes).<\/p>\n

\u201cYou Don\u2019t Need to Love Me,\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0(click on the title to listen) is from the forthcoming Broadway Musical If\/Then<\/strong>, which just happens to be rehearsing in the same building where Henry\u2019s been working on Aladdin<\/strong>. \u00a0(For more about the show, which is about middle age, and love and life, and roads not taken, click here<\/strong><\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Flowers:<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"1653541_728815760471828_760828943_n\"<\/p>\n

(My heart-felt thanks to Amy VanEchaute for introducing me to Flower Story<\/strong><\/a> and for sending me this lovely virtual Valentines Day bouquet of my \u00a0favorite flowers.)<\/p>\n

Wishing you and yours a Happy Valentine\u2019s Day. Tell me, how are you making love visible today?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Two very special cookie recipes:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Dark Chocolate Espresso Hearts\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

(adapted from a recipe at Easybaked.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>)<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

INGREDIENTS: (makes 36 medium cookies)<\/p>\n