My Valentine’s Day was great, in spite of PG&E’s best efforts to wreck it. Brian sent a gorgeous orchid plant to my office, which, unlike roses, will last for years provided I don’t kill it. After work I got all spiffed up, the boy came over, I gave him the card/mix CD I made for him, and we set off to walk to the restaurant ten minutes away.

However, for a three-block stretch along the street where the restaurant was, the power was out. The room was lit by candles, and because they had no kitchen ventilation, they were neither serving nor seating, in spite of the reservation I made a month ago. Boo hoo. Anyway, we sat at the bar for fifteen minutes, deciding what to do. Every other restaurant in the city would be packed tonight, unless we wanted to go to a burrito joint or something, which we’d be overdressed for.

Finally we decided to take the train to the fancy grocery store near my house and get a couple steaks and other good stuff, take it back to my house to cook it, and watch some more “Six Feet Under” episodes. Before we left we made a reservation for next Friday, and had them put us at a cozy table.

Back home, we improvised with the steaks, deciding to broil them. Brian handled the meat and I took care of the curried lentil rice salad from the deli and the artichokes. Everything went off pretty well, except for the part where we checked on the steaks and they were ON FIRE — I guess signaling that they were done. They still tasted good, and everyone learned a little lesson about not burning down the apartment. Hee.

It makes me feel really good actually that we took a possible “disaster” and turned it into a positive fun time. All that mattered to me was to be with Brian and be able to smile together like we always do. It was romantic. We drank pink lemonade from my good wine glasses and said this was way better than what they would have served us at the posh restaurant down the road.

Today I am doing a bunch of household projects. You would not believe how much dust I just pulled out from under my bed.