I remember my mother making homemade valentines for her women friends in the neighborhood. So happy Valentine's Day, and may you be surrounded by love all day long. I've got to finish decorating the cheesecake - I made an enormous marzipan rose to put on top, and I've got some delicious heart-shaped sprinkles and chocolate things. It smelled marvelous while it baked - basic New York style cheesecake, cream cheese, heavy cream, vanilla, and hints of lemon and cinnamon. I'll post a picture :-)
My beloved has to work today, so we're having our Valentine's Day tomorrow. He's going to cook dinner for me (smashburgers) and then we'll eat cheesecake and snuggle while our dinner digests. And I'm always in favor of celebrating LOVE. And cheesecake needs no excuse :-)
I was born in New York City, so I learned to appreciate cheesecake at an early age. It's not terribly difficult to make, but you do have to pay attention to the time and temperature when you bake it. Decorating it is going to be a lot more demanding, because I set myself high standards for decorating - my mother decorated cakes semi-professionally because my father's salary as a truck driver didn't always cover our expenses, and $20 or $30 for a nicely decorated Bar Mitzvah cake for one of the neighbors helped a lot.
I'd rather celebrate Lupercalia by eating cheesecake than by getting whipped in public. The coven I was trained in celebrated Valentine's Day as a holiday in honor of Aphrodite, Goddess of love and lust, and She's always been one of my favorite deities. And thank you for your admiration of the skills and imagination I've acquired over 77 years of curiosity and learning to do things by myself instead of spending money to buy a fancy pastry from a bakery instead of making it at home for far less money. (The same reason I learned simple car repair and basic sewing.) I am quite proud of and thankful for the skills of my mind and hands, and it makes me very happy that you express your appreciation. And most of the people I interact with online are people who have different skill sets than I do, and I love learning about what they know. (When minoanmiss describes how she dissects a Buddha' s Hand citron, I start checking my local markets for such an interesting object.) I love learning new things! When I found that I had to learn how to make low-fat foods taste good, I decided to treat it as a challenge.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
malionette
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 07:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 10:16 am (UTC)My beloved has to work today, so we're having our Valentine's Day tomorrow. He's going to cook dinner for me (smashburgers) and then we'll eat cheesecake and snuggle while our dinner digests. And I'm always in favor of celebrating LOVE. And cheesecake needs no excuse :-)
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 02:26 pm (UTC)And you’re Pagan enough to appreciate the fact that the 15th is Lupercalia.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 09:00 pm (UTC)I'd rather celebrate Lupercalia by eating cheesecake than by getting whipped in public. The coven I was trained in celebrated Valentine's Day as a holiday in honor of Aphrodite, Goddess of love and lust, and She's always been one of my favorite deities. And thank you for your admiration of the skills and imagination I've acquired over 77 years of curiosity and learning to do things by myself instead of spending money to buy a fancy pastry from a bakery instead of making it at home for far less money. (The same reason I learned simple car repair and basic sewing.) I am quite proud of and thankful for the skills of my mind and hands, and it makes me very happy that you express your appreciation. And most of the people I interact with online are people who have different skill sets than I do, and I love learning about what they know. (When minoanmiss describes how she dissects a Buddha' s Hand citron, I start checking my local markets for such an interesting object.) I love learning new things! When I found that I had to learn how to make low-fat foods taste good, I decided to treat it as a challenge.
no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 10:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 01:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 02:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-14 03:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-02-16 04:59 am (UTC)blush Thank you :)