Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day turned out to be a fairly busy day. We had company over the night before so we both slept in and took our time getting ready for the day. Andre had decided that we were going to drive out to the Butterfly Conservatory in Niagara Falls, and have lunch to mark the special day. In the end we had lunch at a restaurant close to our house and then hopped on the highway from there for the drive to the conservatory.

We had first visited the conservatory right after we were engaged, so it's been about 5 years we last visited. We've only ever visited in the winter, but I think it would be a great place to visit in the spring/summer, so you could take advantage of the nice weather and take a walk through the Botanical Gardens that are in the same area. We've only ever seen everything covered in snow.

It's funny to see people, young and old, man and woman snapping picture after picture of the butterflies, and holding out their arms hoping one might land on them. It was especially funny to see the biker-type guy yesterday shout out to his friends that one had landed on his arm. The best part of this place is that it's nice and warm to accommodate all the butterflies. Here are some pictures:

When we got home Andre promptly banished me to the living room and told me that he had a "project" and I was not allowed to even peak into the kitchen. This immediately made me nervous, but I went along with it and went to play Super Mario for Wii in the living room.

Well after about 20 minutes of salivating from the smell of melted chocolate, and listening to Andre curse I went into the kitchen when he explained that his project was a big catastrophe. Yes, he used to word catastrophe. I went into the kitchen and found a recipe for black and white dipped chocolate covered strawberries and three bowls filled with various stages of burnt chocolate.

And a very frustrated Andre. He told me that it wasn't fair, I had made chocolate covered strawberries and they had turned out great, and nothing was working for him. So I tried to salvage as much as I could. I carefully peeled off the globs of chocolate he managed to get onto the strawberries and got him to gently pat the water off the strawberries (problem #1, the strawberries need to be dry). Then instead of melting the chocolate in the microwave, I used the stove ("Jenna, it said to use the microwave."). After constant stirring and some added water we managed to get the chocolate melted and smooth. Then I let him dip the strawberries.

He really wanted to add the melted white chocolate like the recipe said, so I melted down some white chocolate (Jenna, it's not going to work, I already tried.") and left him alone so he could finish up the last few steps on his own. In the end it ended up being more of dual project, but I think he did really well.

It's the thought that counts right?

After dinner we collapsed on the couch and ended up watching The Great Sperm Race on Discovery (which we both found very entertaining). And then we both almost fell asleep watching Olympic pairs figure skating.