Valentine's Day, Part Une

For obvious reasons, we tried to keep Valentine's Day a little low-key this year.  Since Aaron had to work all day yesterday and I, well, didn't....I decided Monday night would be my turn.  It all started when Design Sponge posted this article in their series leading up to Valentine's Day.  Of course, changes would have to be made, I'm pretty sure our landlord wouldn't appreciate me hanging hooks in the ceiling in order to drape paper cut out hearts and lanterns.  So here's what we ended up with instead:

 

You can't see the top, but if you could, you'd see that the drapes are hanging from curtain rods dangerously thrown over our hanging light.  What can I say?  We live on the edge.


Also, can you ever really beat a tapas meal?  Who doesn't love a good appetizer?  And wine.

Whats in that weird dish, you ask?  A tasty little recipe called Rosemary-and Balsamic-Roasted Grapes and Olives from Vegetarian Times:

Ingredients:
2 1/2 tsp. olive oil
2 1/2 tsp. chopped rosemary
1 1/4 cups walnut pieces
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1 tbs. balsamic vinegar
1/2 tsp. agave nectar
1 1/2 cups large red seedless grapes
1 1/2 cups unpitted black and green olives

1.) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 2 shallow baking dishes with oil.

2.) Warm 2 1/2 tsp oil with 1 tsp rosemary in skillet over medium low heat 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove fro heat; stir in walnuts and salt.  Spread nuts in 1 prepared baking dish.

3.) Whisk together vinegar and agave nectar in a bowl.  Stir in grapes, olives, and remaining 1 1/2 rosemary.  Spread mixture in a separate baking dish.

4.) Roast walnuts 9-12 minutes in the oven, or until golden brown.  Remove, sprinkle with more kosher salt, if desired, and cool.  Increase oven heat to 400 degrees.  Roast olives and grapes 20-25 minutes, or until sauce is syrupy, stirring occasionally.  Sprinkle walnut pieces over grapes and olives and serve warm.

Tasty indeed.  Aaron has some Valentine's Day plans for me on Wednesday, so part deux will follow!