all I want for Valentine’s day is a box…

of Kleenex.

Come July, Jeff and I will celebrate our 25th anniversary, and after this many years of marriage, we’ve learned one thing beyond a doubt — catching each other’s wretched, miserable, lousy diseases is all part and parcel of the whole “for better or worse” line in those wedding vows.

So, here we are. Jeff’s finally beginning to get over the creepin’ crud, after almost 3 weeks. And I’m wheezing and sneezing my way through week one of my “I swapped spit with my husband and damn, that was a mistake” blues. Danny, luckily, hasn’t come down sick yet, and we’re all hoping he manages to avoid it, although since we’re all idiots and known for unthinkingly offering each other “a bite off my fork” or “a sip of this, didn’t it turn out well,” there are still chances for him to experience the joys of coughing til he almost pees himself or smearing his nose with Vaseline because it’s so red and sore it feels like leprosy is eating it away.

There! Did that whet your appetite for some food talk? Heh, wonder why not?

But food talk there will be, at least a brief mention. Because despite my assertion above, I do care enough about Valentine’s Day to want to give Jeff and Danny a little treat. This year, I decided to make a lemon tart. Actually, since I’m feeling tired and wobbly, I’m cheating and will be using a regular pie crust I’ve had stored in the fridge, so it’s really a lemon pie, I suppose.

I used the recipe for Lemon Cream I found in Dorie Greenspan’s book (Baking: From My home to Yours), and am thrilled with the way it turned out. It’s chilling right now. I’ll bake the crust this afternoon, and will spoon the filling into the room temp crust right before serving. I’m considering lightly glazing the inside of the crust with strawberry jam after baking, or maybe baking it most of the way and then sprinkling it with a little sugar and baking til it makes a sugar coating on the inside of the crust so that it will be nicely crisp before filling, but I don’t know — may well simply fill it and serve it.

This was a simple recipe for lemon cream, and I’m so pleased with it that I’m already thinking of other ways to use this cream. Since we’re all very big fans of anything citrus, it will be a popular treat here…

Ok, enough blog time. I need to go take some duly prescribed drugs and settle my butt down on the sofa for a while. I’m sure Jeff and I will look like the image of romantic bliss tonight, both of us red-nosed and bleary-eyed, but at least we’ll have zesty lemon pie to cheer us up!