Valentine's Contest Entry

Here is another entry I received last week for the Valentine's contest that I thought you all might enjoy reading.

"When I first heard about this challenge I thought I'd would want to make a special meal for my parents. So back in January I made an invitation and an RSVP card that I sent to our address in the mail as a surprise to them.When I received the RSVP card, I was so excited to see that they had accepted! We have a small log cabin in a wooded corner of our property and that is where I planed to have the dinner for them. The cabin is a favorite place for our family to go to when we just want to have a quiet time, so I knew my parents would love to have dinner together there.I had so many thoughts about what I could make for the dinner. I finally decided on something that I had never made before but I knew they would like it. There is a small restaurant near us called The Cook's House and one of my parents' favorite dishes that the chefs make there is Braised Lamb Shanks with apples, turnips & lentils. The Cook's House just came out with their cookbook called "Cook's House" which we have. After finding the recipe, I took some lamb shanks out of our freezer and began!

The way everything worked out was amazing! The Lord definitely gave me the desires of my heart. Daddy, Mama, and my two younger brothers all had to run so errands and stop by my grandparents house on the 11th. I asked them if they could pick up some salad greens for me, and they said they could. I had really wanted to serve a salad but I was not sure how I would get the greens (I don't drive). Right there God provided. He knew that I really wanted to have a salad with my dinner!

It was just my older sister, my older brother and I home. I put the shanks in the oven in the early afternoon because they have to slow cook. Meanwhile, I tidy the cabin up a bit kept the fire going and did other prep work for the dinner. My sister, Grace, was a big help with the whole thing. She skied a couple miles to harvest some watercress in a river near us to use as a garnish (the sticks on her back are willow, the watercress is in her pocket ). She also made a lovely loaf of bread.I called my oldest sister who is married to see if she had any ideas for the desert and she thought I should do something like a trifle where you layer cake with fruit and whipped cream mixed with pudding (to make a mousse). I thought that was a good idea, but I did not want to make a large portion in a bowl like regular trifles. When I read in a book how you can make individual ones, I thought that was the perfect thing. I mixed up a sponge cake while listening to some classical music on the radio. After pulling the cake out of the oven, I realized I had forgotten the vanilla and the lemon flavoring. First kitchen disaster of the day. Little did I know that it was not the last. "No, this won't do," I told myself, "I am making another cake." With a sigh and a smile (I don't know why I thought it was funny!), I took out the bowls again and made another cake, this time making sure that I put in the flavorings. The cake turned out lovely. (You can see the "flop" in the background!) After the cake was done, I made some vanilla pudding that I planed to mix with whipped cream. Setting that aside, I begin on the lentils and veggies. Since we had no turnips I figured a potato would do. Meanwhile my parents and brothers arrived home and I did the last bit of preparation. After everything minus the food was set up on the table down at the cabin, I let Mama and Daddy know that they could go down there. Grace and I got all the things ready to take down to the cabin - the shanks, the lentils, the potato, the apples, the bread, and the salad. We carried everything down on a tray and assembled the plates once we were in the cabin.We served the cakes with Lemongrass tea - one of my parent's favorites.Overall, I think it was a wonderful experience for me. While I had never really done anything like that before, I think I now have an idea of what it will be like to cook for two when or if I am ever married! It brought a lot of joy to my heart to do this for my parents."