St. Valentine's

By design, the whole St. Valentine's thing is such a farce. It's pretty much a commercial "day" designed to make you shell out your money. If you truly love your special someone, you don't need a day dictated by someone's balance sheet to show it. I was laughing inside watching all the fools at the store picking up cheesy cards and flowers at the last minute. I guess I feel bad for both: The guys because they feel like that's the day they have to "express" how the feel (or else), and the ladies because they have been conditioned to expect this non-sense. Heck: if you think a once-a-year expense on flowers, chocolate, and who knows what else is a good measure of how much he really cares about you, I got news: It shouldn't and it most probably isn't.

I decided (for once in a loooong time) to play along for a bit and do something nice on V-day for a change. I decided to prepare a nice meal and enjoy our time together.

We love French cuisine, so I went around looking for a crispy duck recipe. I found several, and most were very good. I settled for a crispy duck with pears and green peppercorns recipe, and it was a great hit. I took the potato cakes from another recipe and paired them with a garlic aioli (from yet another recipe), and it was pretty good. To celebrate, we decided to finally drink a bottle of Krug Grande Cuvee that we bought a long while back to celebrate another occasion. It was the first time I've had a oak cured champagne, and it was very good. Definitely a different experience from the normal champagne fare, but certainly worth it. The chardonnay grape loves oak, and this pretty much proves it. It had a beautiful deep golden color and hints of honey, apple and citrus that worked well with the pear and the apple from the duck dish. The potato cakes didn't compliment much the champagne, but that was pretty much expected. The meal was great, nonetheless, and I got a new wine refrigerator/cellar anyways, so I'm happy!

If you like duck, I highly recommend the recipe. It is simple to make, and it is a wonderful hit. Duck breast is easy to obtain these days, and there's nothing to do for the preparation. Follow the recipe, and save the duck fat. That stuff is gold!

Well, I hope you had a great Valentine's as well-and for the right reasons!