Love is in the Air.....

Well, Valentine's Day is right around the corner and lately my eyes have been drawn to my most prized possession.



A painting by Jack Vettriano entitled Dance Me to the End of Love.
This painting captures the essence of my best Valentine's Day memory.

Because I've not been able to divert my thoughts from the subject of love lately I've decided to host a

BLOG GIVEAWAY

centered around it! Hooray for all of you!


Here's how you play:
1. To enter, you must visit my shop on etsy and pick a favorite item then come back here and leave a comment on this post telling me what you've chosen (make sure to include a way to contact you should you win).

2. You can earn a bonus entry if you become a follower of my blog. You'll find the link on the right side bar.

3. You can earn another bonus entry if you share me your most creative Valentine's Day memory. You can read the rest of the story about my best Valentine's Day below.

That's it! You're in. So, what am I giving away, you ask?
How about one of these?



The contest will be open to entries until midnight on February 12th, 2009. The winner will be announced right here on February 14th.

Now, here's my favorite V day memory:

February of 2004 (I think...?), I was inspired to create a special Valentine's Day for my husband. Ideas began to stir in my head and I wrote furiously in my notebook until I'd settled on a plan. I began to pour over my cookbook collection in search of relatively simple gourmet dishes I would be able to pull off with confidence. After a few rounds of elimination, I had assembled a menu for the evening and sat down with some tea at the computer and created my own menu for the evening. When that was done, I opened my CreateACard software and designed an invitation for my husband. Here's the actual card I made him:


I placed the card on the front seat of his truck after he went to bed the night before V day. The next morning after getting everyone out the door to school and work I got down to business myself.

I had searched the house earlier for what I would need to transform our humble little home into the quaint Cafe Rustica. I found an old curtain rod in the garage and found two matching twin sized flat sheets from our linen closet which I used along with a swag from a previous curtain set that I wasn't using at the time to create the curtains separating the entryway from the living room. I moved almost all of the living room furniture out of the living room and set up our dining room table (minus the leaf) with more lovely sheets as tablecloths. The red velvet napkins were a find at an after Christmas sale that I had tucked away for the next year. I pulled out our china and set the scene.

I purged all the shoes, coats, backpacks and bench from the entryway and brought in my outdoor fountain for ambiance. I had created a Cafe Rustica sign on the computer earlier which I hung beneath the painting on the wall. It was really beautiful.

Now it was off to the kitchen to whip up the recipes I had found.
The menu for Cafe Rustica was as follows:

Antipasti:
Baked Brie with Cranberry Wine Sauce
Fresh Bread with Olivada and Basil Garlic Oil

Entree:
Raspberry Turkey Roast
Tuscan Marinated Steak


Verdure (side dishes):
Pear Walnut Salad
Barley Pilaf
Asparagus with Roasted Peppers and Olives


Bevande (drinks):
Sparkling Juice
Lemon-Rose Water


Dolci (dessert):
Cappuchino Teardrop Mousse
Chocolate Marbled Cups with Fresh Fruit

My kids got home from school and I could tell by their amazed looks that my hard work was going to pay off. My mother arrived shortly, as we had arranged, to whisk them all away for a special Grandma's Valentine's Day party at her house and I quickly showered and changed.

A call from my husband saying he had "an errand" to run told me he was out looking for something for me and gave me a few extra minutes to put the finishing touches on the food, put on one of my Andrea Bocelli cds to set the mood, and light the candles.

When the time finally came, he rang the doorbell. Amused, I answered it with "Welcome to Cafe Rustica, how may I help you?" Without missing a beat, he replied "I have a 7 o'clock reservation." Giggling, I let him in and will never forget the look on his face. He was completely thrilled. He made me get the camera so he could take pictures of everything.

I finally got him to sit after taking pictures of every little detail (at the time we didn't realize that I had black and white film in the camera and after developing the film we were sad to see that most of the pictures turned out too blurry), only to have him jump back up and say "I'll be right back!" He came back in carrying that beautiful painting and I cried when he gave it to me.

We finally sat down and enjoyed a wonderful evening together with fabulous food, conversation and even dancing right in the middle of our very own living room. It was the best Valentine's Day we've ever had........so far :)

Here are a few pictures I can share with you:

(the beautiful table)



(a shot of the entryway)


(the Vettriano painting took the place of the other)