What I Learned on Valentine’s Day

David and I decided to cook for each other for Valentine’s Day.

Saturday night, he baked my favorite cake – Chocolate Chip Torte. Then he made Nachos Supreme and yelled, “It’s ready. Come and get it.”

Not to be outdone, I made my meal on Monday: Prime Rib, Baked Potatoes, Asparagus, Croissants, and a cherry pie.

I froze cherries in two bags last summer. One bag was from the store and one was from the cherry tree at my sister-in-law’s apartment. She picked them from the tree for me.

It was while making the pie that I learned something. I make just the minimum. I wanted a 2-crust pie and made enough dough for one pie. I had to roll it really thin and I didn’t have enough dough left for the second crust.

I have to start doing things as if I have an abundance, not just enough. Had I mixed up enough dough for 2 pies, the crust would have been brown and flaky and I would have had a top crust. Without the top crust, the pie ran over and burned on the cookie sheet under the pan, setting off the smoke detector.

David sweetly picked off a burnt cherry and ate it anyway. (It wasn’t until he ate a piece of pie that I wondered if that tree was a chokecherry tree!)

The meal didn’t get better. Since the oven was on, I put the meat in. It finished a couple of hours early and was cold by the time we ate. (Sigh.) The baked potatoes were fine, but the asparagus was mushy. It wasn’t the meal of my dreams.

Next time, I will make extra pie dough because I can afford the ingredients. I can afford to shut the oven off and preheat it again when it is time to roast the meat. I will stop being cheap and living as if I have just enough. I will live in abundance because God is the one who provides our food.