Valentine Ice Cream treats

We had dinner at our friends last week.  She made a lovely dessert with chocolate shells made in a baking cup from Galaxy chocolate, their favorite from the UK.  It was filled with vanilla pudding and berries. We were lucky enough to take home the leftovers!  Sara and I decided to make some chocolate cups for valentine's day dinner.  Instead, what we did was melt dark chocolate chips in a heart shaped silicone tray; freeze for 10 minutes, and press softened ice cream into the tray and top with sliced almonds.  Here is how they looked:

Best Fruit & Nut bars ever

Looking for something a little more tasty, I have been keeping my eye open for energy bar-like recipes.  I found this one in Sunset Magazine - which is just what I was looking for!  I changed it up a bit to suit my tastes and used dried apricots instead of dried apples.  Sara found them too sweet (!) so next batch will substitue some peanut butter for the honey, and use whole almonds at the start, to have chunkier bits in the end.

Fish & Frites

Tonight we had a TV dinner to watch the college basketball game. I made the fish and chips (and remoulade) from this article from Relish and it was enjoyed by all. It came together pretty quickly. The frites weren't as crispy as they could have been, so I put them under the broiler for a few minutes. The sugar/salt/tarragon mixture on the frites hit the right sweet and savory balance. Tarragon is one of my favorite herbs, and anytime I see a recipe with fresh tarragon, I make it! We will definitely try this again.