Widely available at modest prices today, tulips are still closely associated with the Netherlands. However, the tulip is not a native Dutch flower. Like many other products in western Europe, such as the potato and tobacco, tulips came to the Netherlands from another part of the world. The tulip was first seen by Europeans in Turkey. Scholars now believe that the Turks had been cultivating tulips as early as AD 1000. Most of these tulips probably originated in areas around the Black Sea, in the Crimea, and in the steppes to the north of the Caucasus.[source:Tulips by Barbara Schulman]
For this occasion of the hearts, we actually had our pre-‘v’ dinner last Friday at Café Charbon, Manhattan [details worthy of another post!]. It’s been a tradition for us setting a date before the 14th… all together avoiding the usual crowd and deluding from the mushiness of this oh-so-commercialized day. Nonetheless, it’s celebrating together which counts the most, right? And mushy as it may seem, everyday is ‘v’ day for us!
I didn’t even expect these pretty bulbs when Marco came home from work Tuesday. He wouldn’t have thought I would bake a cake either! Probably a not-so-ordinary dish is more of what he would’ve anticipated. Guess what? I only cooked TINOLA! [ Gingered Chicken Soup] Well, I AM also a mom to my two kids, right? And they definitely eat a lot when there’s Tinola on the table. So I thought, ‘this day would be a day for US …Marco and myself AND the kids!’ Likewise, Marco loves it too!
The Chocolate Cake is simply a Betty Crocker ready mix that’s been sitting in my cupboard for quite a while now. Even the frosting was just a Duncan Hines! But! Knowing myself, I wouldn’t settle for just a store-bought mix alone! I put my teeny-weeny- DIY-touch into action again. I added a cup of lightly chopped walnuts in the batter, which really made it more of a moist Brownie inside. The crunch made it swell! I wasn’t so happy with the ready frosting, though. It’s way too sweet for my taste bud. So I decided to top it with another layer of home-made frosting with my left-over bitter-sweet chocolate bars, butter, heavy cream and light corn syrup mixture.
And! I made a couple of separate heart-shaped cakes, garnished with the Tulip petal on top…solely for Marco. *mushy* *mushy* lol! And another for my sweet Samia, who also gave me a stem of carnation from school and this card!
a piece of me I give to you..
this special heart because I love you..
the heart is you..
the hand is me..
it shows that we are a family..
I was reading it while walking back to the house and it almost made me cry…Samia is just the sweetest! Everything she does like doodles, cards, poems...almost always, they’re for mom.…oh! and by the way...the stem of rose was from dad for his little princess!
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