The Graduated Bumblebee: A simple Valentine's

For Valentine’s this year I expected no secret Valentines (because I’m not single), bouquets at my desk (I made the bf swear he wouldn’t waste a ton on things that say “Here you go, now watch them die”), chocolates (how unoriginal), Tiffany-anything (that’s mommy-dearest’s thing) or fancy diamond jewelry (the bf hasn’t stopped ranting about the Oppenheimer conspiracy since college and we watched Blood Diamond). Instead, my gift was a special-ordered Valentine’s princess cake from the organic SF bakery Miette. When I lifted the lid of the pink box it came in, the only thing I saw was a simple heart-shaped cake coated in pink fondant, sprinkled with crystallized sugar and finally wrapped around with a simple pink ribbon. How pretty! To top it off I can convince myself it’s somewhat healthy because it’s organic. Double yay! Of course I have no skill in cutting heart-shaped cakes (or anything really) so I merely dug into it with a butter knife, a fork and eventually my fingers. Fluffy layers of spongy vanilla cake spread with raspberry jam and topped with whipped cream coupled with the chewiness of the fondant made me sigh blissfully as I took bite after bite after bite. Taste aside, nothing beat the note that came with it:

“Chris and Danielle will turn you into poo!”

I asked the bf how the baker reacted and he said “not so good.” Haha. We even managed to make the bakers cringe. Fun.

Before you get any ideas, I’m not all just about receiving. The lucky bf got two Sopranos box sets (of his choice. Please pick Season 6). I know it doesn’t sound romantic, but a Soprano marathon night can get pretty damn sexy, and that’s even better than any romantic moment. It’s not over yet. The Martha in me decided to whip something up for my coworkers, so I baked up a cookie lollipop storm in the kitchen. They turned out really buttery and yummy. I had people ask me where I got them from - Danielle’s little kitchen. That’s where.