...happy day after valentine's day folks! yesterday was me & teddy's one year anniversary...this is the "official" anniversary of when we defined the relationship a year ago, after a couple months of hanging out and getting to know each other...it just happened to coincide with valentines day, so it makes it easy for us both to remember...teddy worked until 9 pm, and i cooked what is to me an elaborate meal...the main course was a maple syrup marinated salmon...it was a really easy recipe, which you can check out right over here...it's basically, syrup, soy sauce, garlic and black pepper...and thanks to my garlic press, even i had that marinade prepared in less than 10 minutes...the salmon was fresh wild salmon from whole foods...i risked my life and sanity shopping at the whole foods on north & sheffield...that whole 4 block radius near north & clybourn is certifiably a death trap and road rage trigger...esp. the parking lot for whole foods/best buy...i ended up parking in the garage across the street...anyways, in addition to the salmon, i made this spicy mango salsa that was kick ass, and except for all the chopping, it wasn't too hard to make...i used cilantro instead of basil, and i also added a couple chopped mini yellow & red sweet peppers and chopped pineapple...i nuked some trader joe's jasmine rice for the side, and voila, it was a full meal...now the dessert was what gave me the most trouble...it was a double chocolate mocha trifle, and it should have been rather easy to make had i bought the right ingredients...the recipe called for instant pudding mix, and i had bought the cooked kind that you have to simmer and boil, so when i mixed the pudding powder with milk and whisked and whisked, it didn't get any thicker, and i couldn't figure out why...i had to fetch the box out of the trash to read the instructions, and that's when i realized i bought the wrong kind of pudding mix...so i threw it in a pot and started simmering...i then made the mistake of walking away from the stove...you should never do this when you're cooking pudding apparently, cuz before i knew it, i smelled something burning...yuck...burnt pudding...i salvaged what i could, but i don't think it tasted quite right...oh well...

...i tried to time the cooking just right so that it would be done right when teddy came over after work...he brought me 2 dozen lavender roses and a bottle of chardonnay, which i'd requested to go w/ the salmon...which ended up overcooked, by the way...anyways, he was very appreciative since i hardly ever cook for him...it was a lovely dinner just because it was with my teddy, and it was better than going out somewhere, even if restaurant food might have tasted better...it's really the thought that counts, right? and i did think good and hard while i was cooking, even though it might not have seemed like it from the stupid mistakes that i made along the way...

...we walked over to the subterranean to see the detholz after dinner...i hadn't seen them play in months so even though it was fuhreezing outside, and i was somewhat tipsy from sharing that bottle of wine, i made us go, and i'm glad i did cuz it was definitely good to see derek and linda and the boys...i must admit though that i made the near fatal mistake of having a cigarette when i was not quite sober...one american spirit was enough to make the entire world spin around me...and there was just something about the last song by the band opening up before the detholz that made everything spin a tad faster, and i made a beeline for the ladies room and said a hasty goodbye to my dinner...i'm so glad they have couches upstairs at the subterranean cuz i really needed to lie down for like the next half hour or so...i think i only caught the last half of the detholz, which is regrettable, but i really wasn't feeling up to it...i was literally stumbling around as i was taking my photos...which are over here by the way...

...so all that work over dinner only to discard it a couple hours later...oh well...so goes life sometimes...

...oh, i also have duvall photos from a month ago over here too...dat's it...gotta go look at some apartments now...