I have to say that I’m a really lucky man. Not only did my wife want to fix dinner for me, but her gift got to my office after I’d had to leave for the day. She could have been furious with me; instead, her response was, “I get to have Valentine’s Day two days in a row!” How many women out there would respond that way?

For the gifts, though, she made me this:

Psalm 37:4 has special meaning to us, and she had a friend help her emboss it onto paper, then fit it to the frame. And she got, finally, this (not a great pic, but I was in a hurry:

As it turns out, we each made part of dinner. I made her something she requested… bacon wrapped shrimp with peppers and cheese. I made something similar a few weeks ago, and she wanted it again. The only real differences were that I cooked the prawns on the stove and I wrapped the shrimp much better with bacon so they stayed together better.

My wife made risotto with pan-seared scallops and a port/wine reduction, and, for dessert, she made turtle brownies with cinnamon dulce de leche Hagen Dazs. Yum!

The risotto was actually not too tough:

• 1 cup white wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup risotto
• Fresh basil and chives, chopped, to taste (about 1 tablespoon each)
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 shallot, diced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a pan and put the olive oil in to heat. Add the diced shallot and sweat. While the shallot is being sweated, heat the white wine and chicken stock in a sauce pan and simmer. Add the stock and wine to the shallots, along iwth the risotto and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently until the risotto is done (this took 10 minutes or more). When the risotto is done (chewy but still with a bite), add the butter and herbs.

Along with the risotto, she reduced one cup of chianti and a cup of port to about half, and I seared some scallops. I pulled a rookie mistake by not using a nonstick pan… I knew better. I thought the duck fat would help, but the scallops stuck a bit. They still came out great, but it was iffy for a moment. The scallops went on top of the risotto, with the sauce drizzled around it. The scallops went great with the risotto.

I took 4 10-count shrimp, slit them down the back to devein and to allow room for cheese and pepper, then placed slices of Hungarian pepper and a mild gouda-like cheese along the back of the shrimp. Each shrimp was wrapped tightly in bacon and pan-fried in a bit of duck fat over medium heat. They came out really nicely, though I have to admit they taste a bit better on the grill, and they cook better that way, too.

The dessert was good, even if it was from a box of brownie mix. On a Thursday night, it’s tough to do everything from scratch! The cinnamon dulce de leche ice cream was a good way to end the night’s meal, too.

I’m not big into hearts, but my wife got this plate; this is the one day a year it can be used!