Lucky

I don't think there is much of a way to summarize how awesome my boyfriend is, because he deserves more than a quick post about his awesomeness. Regardless, here it is. (Warning: the follow may contain mushy-heart-love talk.)

We tease each other a lot about being lucky--saying, "Oh, I don't know, maybe if you're lucky you'll get ..." (a back rub, a movie, dinner) and I always say, "Oh, I'm lucky. I got you!" If I actually stop to think about it, though--man, I am lucky.

I have a boyfriend who loves to cook, who is neat and (bugs me about not being so) clean, who even when I say not to buy me expensive caramel apples goes on the website weeks before Valentine's Day to order some, because he says he has learned not to listen to me at certain times. When the specialty caramel apples were sold out, he made me homemade caramel apples. They were delicious.

He watches chick flicks when I want to and I hardly ever watch Godzilla or zombie movies anymore for him. He puts up with my woe-is-me attitude whenever I am sick or my tummy feels funny (which is not nearly as often, huzzah!) and tolerates my grumpiness without being grumpy back. (A miracle in and of itself, honestly. I can be pretty damn grumpy.) He makes jokes about my messy tendencies instead of throwing my clothes in my face or refusing to rinse my bowls. He does the dishes because for some reason washing dishes makes me really grumpy--though I clean the bathroom without any pause. (I'm not entirely awful.)

On Valentine's Day he is especially sweet, asking if I'm sure I don't want flowers, or candy, or a book from Borders. He makes me homemade pumpkin ravioli with a butter, balsamic vinegar, and sage sauce the night before Valentine's Day because today we were both so busy with school we didn't have time together. He made me caramel apples--insisting I buy three different kinds of apple to find my favorite, and making caramel for the first time--doing a wonderfully fabulous and delicious job of it, too.

He buys me wonderful gifts that totally surprise me--my bamboo hearts, my specialty caramel apples, taking me up to the cabin in the snow, and my jewelery.

I made him a card. It was done in my computer class, it has two little bees with hearts and swirls around them and it says Bee Mine.

And he is.

I'm lucky like that.

Gooey Caramel Ooey Yum-Yum

Just made caramel. From scritch-scratch. From this recipe except I substituted 1/3 cup whole milk and enough corn syrup to make 1/2 cup mixture for the 1/2 cup cream. Then I split it in half and kept one normal and to the other added 1 tsp cocoa powder for a delicious slightly bitter/sweet caramel dip.

I expected to totally burn the sugar but it didn't! I kept calling "Nick! Come see it now! This is awesome!" as it started melting by itself in the saucepan.

Going to slice three trillion Honeycrisp apples. Will roll my way out tomorrow. Kisses!

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM.


Caramel sauce. Perfect for apples, ice cream, and drizzling.


Cocoa caramel sauce (not fully incorporated) for little bursts of bitter. Delicious.

Belated Post: Valentine's Day 2009

So for Valentine's Day, my very sweet boyfriend gave me caramel apples from Wisconsin! I love caramel apples! They are one of my favorite treats but I rarely get to indulge in them. He kept it a complete surprise, too.

Here's the box!


They were HUGE and juicy and delicious and had chewy caramel and salty peanuts and was just all-over AMAZING.


Here's the funny couple. We're cute, right?

It was a very fun Valentine's day, with the caramel apples (no worries, I shared!) and then it SNOWED and it was so beautiful, and it made for much fun and slipperiness when I had to chase Bobbi Socks up the hill in the snow to get my box of caramel apples that she stole! Later we went out to our favorite sushi restaurant, and we actually sort of dressed up! I traded in my beautiful topaz necklace for my grandma's ruby necklace and earrings so that my jewelry matched my red silk shirt. We had a great time. 

Happy Valentine's Day Nick!