Valentines Day Dinner and a Poem

 I interviewed a florist yesterday for an article that I was writing about Valentines Day. She has had a front row seat to other's romantic plans for the last 16 years. She says that she gives men a pat on the back for buying flowers but doesn't let them off the hook there. "Do you know what you are making for dinner?" she asks,"Have you bought the wine and picked out a couple lines of poetry? Its about the whole ambiance."

I commissioned a poem for my husband last year, from a woman sitting on a chair in a small town square, with a typewriter on her lap. I told her my topic - the coming wedding anniversary to my loving husband who helped me create our beautiful son - and she began pecking away at the keys. "Should I read it to you?" she asked. When she read it, I cried. A perfect anniversary gift.

If you need some poetry of your own, Jacquline Suskin will type out your own custom poem for those who help support her book tour. I hope she comes up to Seattle and if she does I will be sure to tell you. In the meantime, get your poem here.

I made an early Valentine's Day dinner this week - all pinks and reds - without a fake dye in sight. My sister in law taught me to make a coconut shrimp rice, tinted pink with some minced tomatoes. I cooked some ruby chard to serve alongside. Very nice!