What are you doing for Valentine’s Day? I suspect many of us are probably going to stay home and avoid the extra chaos and calories of dining out during a holiday To tell you the truth, I would rather cook a simple meal that provides my sweetie with a few of his favorite foods.
My husband is crazy about cheese and not so crazy about veggies, except for broccoli and cauliflower. So I’m going to roast up his favorite veggies and whip up a simple cheese fondue, using a ready-made mix amended with Emmentaler cheese and white wine. There is something sexy and fun about spearing and sharing your food around a fondue pot.
We’re both fond of citrus desserts, so I thought I’d bake this light and delicious Volcano Cake recipe, shared by my friend and fellow musician, cellist Shirley Chilcott. Her son loves the cake so much that he requested it at his wedding.
And for of you out there still searching for a definition of love, here’s a great pearl of truth from Louis de Bernieres’ novel, “Captain Corelli’s Mandolin” :
“Love is a temporary madness, it erupts like volcanoes and then subsides. And when it subsides, you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion, it is not the desire to mate every second minute of the day, it is not lying awake at night imagining that he is kissing every cranny of your body. No, don’t blush, I am telling you some truths. That is just being “in love”, which any fool can do. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident.”
Volcano Cake
Makes one 9”-x-9” cake
1½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cocoa, optional
6 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoons vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup orange juice, plus orange zest to taste
Powdered sugar, for garnish
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and optional cocoa right into an oiled, 9×9-inch pan. Make three little holds in the dry ingredients and add the oil, vinegar and vanilla to each one. Then pour in 1 cup of orange juice and the zest and gently mix until the ingredients are just barely blended. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool and sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top.
