Valen-Times

As a child, Valentine's day always meant that I would get one of those heart shaped boxes of chocolates.  My grandmother actually bought them for all of us.  I always looked forward to that stash of candy and the inevitable hunt through the box to discover the good ones.  We never seemed to get the kind that had a diagram on the inside lid telling you where various flavors were located so eating those chocolates was almost like a game.  You might get a caramel or maybe a butter cream but you might also get stuck with one of the jelly filled ones.  Does anyone like those?

Much like that guaranteed box of chocolates from grandma, grade school also meant the obligatory tiny little Valentine's cards from all of your classmates.  There was a list of kids sent home from school and everyone would get one but of course you had to pick just the right card from the variety box of "Jetsons" themed cards for each friend.  Too many hearts on this one, can't give that to a boy or he might actually think you like him.  Perfect, use this robot one.  I assume that only the girls approached it this way.  Probably most of the boys' cards were filled out by their moms. 

Tomorrow is Valentine's day and I don't expect there will be any heart shaped boxes of chocolate or cards.  I don't know for sure that I won't get anything but my boyfriend just isn't the kind of guy to get into these commercial sorts of holidays.  My ex-husband wasn't either.  It seems that every year when Valentine's day approaches I am always left with the same question of what to do for the person I am with.  If they do something for me and I am empty handed, then what?  This happened one year when I expected my husband at the time to ignore the holiday and was surprised to find a card, flowers and chocolates all waiting for me.  Good thing I always have enough staples in the cupboard to whip up a heart shaped chocolate chip cookie.  And for all he knows, that is what I intended to do all along. 

I spent all of my teen years and most of my twenties without any significant person in my life for Valentine's day, so I guess I have never had high expectations.  It is the kind of holiday that seems to be made up just to make some of us feel inadequate.  An event that becomes a quantitative test of love.  That box of chocolates becomes a judgement.  Am I only worth a one layer box of sweets?  A bouquet of mixed flowers, why not roses?  A dozen roses, why not two?  Where is my life sized teddy bear from the Vermont Teddy Bear Company, AS SEEN ON TV for just $99.99?

Happy Easter

Easter was not a huge holiday in my family when I was growing up.  Easter Sunday service at our church was really early and out in the middle of a field, so, although my mother and I often went to church, I don’t remember ever making it to that service.  Easter morning generally consisted of getting up and hunting around the house for the eggs we had colored and then finding my Easter basket. 

The eggs we were hunting for were either colored hard boiled eggs or eggs that we had blown out of the shell before coloring.  If you have never blown out an egg, you might not realize how hard this is to do or maybe you wouldn’t realize it was even possible.  You take a needle and make a small hole in each end and then blow until you think your head will pop.  The nice thing about these eggs is you can keep them from year to year if you handle them carefully.  We didn’t have plastic eggs filled with candy, I guess they weren’t invented yet and that makes me feel very old to admit.  There was always at least one egg that went unfound and when the hunting was done there was nothing left to do but have a peanut butter egg.

I don’t remember having big Easter dinners until I was much older and there were grandkids for my parents to fuss over.  I do remember getting together with my aunt’s family sometimes though because one of my cousins had a birthday around that time.  I only recall this because I remember making cakes with my mother that were both Easter themed and birthday themed at the same time.  And I also recall that this particular cousin did not like coconut.

For some reason coconut and Easter just go together.  I don’t know if there is some significance to how they became related or if it is just because coconut makes really good fur on Easter bunny cakes and grass for a basket if you tint it green.  So year after year we had to find ways to make bunny cakes and basket grass without coconut.  One year we cheated.  There is a cake you can make using two round cakes where one becomes the bunny head and the other round gets cut into pieces for the ears and a bow tie.  That year we made this cake; covered the head and ears with coconut and left the bow tie plain for the birthday boy.

Getting back to the peanut butter egg, is there a more perfect Easter candy?  For some reason they are better than the regular peanut butter cups you can buy year round and I will propose that they are even better than the similar peanut butter tree that eventually became available at Christmas.  The peanut butter egg is thicker than the cup giving it a fuller amount of peanut butter filling that compliments the chocolate coating, the perfect ratio of filling to chocolate.  And the rounded shape makes it easy to nibble the chocolate around all the edge until you are left with mostly filling.  A treasure designed for delayed gratification if you are a peanut butter lover.  Keep your jellybeans and Peeps, fill my basket with peanut butter eggs.