happy valentine's day

I went to Whole Foods fixated on a mushroom & seafood combo for dinner. I came back with something I'd never purchased before. After pacing back and forth between the mushroom and fish sections several times, I settled on these wonderful little Hedgehog mushrooms from Oregon. Of all the mushrooms there, they certainly looked the freshest. As always... when in doubt, fresh is the way to go. Turns out they have a similar nutty flavor similar to Chanterelles, with just a bit more bite (and just as exorbitantly priced...) A good start to the dish.

As for seafood, the selection was uninspiring today. I went with large scallops that looked pretty tasty and according to WF won't make me completely responsible for destroying the universe (they were yellow). The dish came together pretty easily. I seared the scallops on very high heat with salt and pepper and cooked the mushrooms slowly in butter, along with onions, thyme, salt and pepper. Nothing fancy here, but a winning combo if ever there was one.

For desert I made a nice little cake (ok wasn't so little...) The key ingredients included plenty of fresh ginger, molasses, cinnamon, nutmeg, and even some black pepper?! This was another recipe courtesy of David Lebovitz, whose cookbook is a pleasure to cook from even if you don't like to bake. This cake came out spicy, moist, and delicious, and it didn't even contain an ounce of chocolate! Neither Amity or I thought this was a problem though :)