Ben's Day Wednesday

“They are one person. They are two alone. They are three together. They are for each other.”*

Posted on by Liz

For Valentine’s Day, we always stay home and make a great meal together. This year, Ben and I had the day off from school, so we made a dessert together in the afternoon. When Phil got home from work, we made dinner together, while listening to So Far by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young.*

Phil prepared the duck with a shallot and orange sauce, while I made the shirred eggs with potato puree and the Brussels sprouts with pancetta, shallots and lemon juice.

Stirring in the egg yolk makes it so rich and delicious!
Ben prefers his potato without the egg.

Ben picked the dessert from The Simple Kitchen by Chad and Donna Elick. While he is using the cookbook exactly as I had intended, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the admonition to be careful what you wish for. It is a great cookbook, with easy recipes and beautiful pictures to entice the burgeoning cook. (No, we are not in advertising cahoots. If anything, they may have to issue a cease and desist order!) The problem is that Ben finds all the most caloric dishes and gets his heart set on them.

At some point during the making of the “No-Bake Black Bottom Peanut Butter Pie,” I told Ben he would have to take a break from the cookbook. He wasn’t happy, but cheered a bit when I assured him that the peanut butter pie was locked in and, therefore, not in jeopardy.

Ben’s role was was one part sous chef to two parts heckler. I knew he was feeling ornery when his counting of the Oreos sounded more like he was hiking a football. Usually, he’s all business when he dons the chef’s hat, but this time I think the promise of getting “all sugared up,” as he put it, was too much.

You can see why this was the chosen recipe.
Ben loves operating the mixer, especially at full speed. If he can get it to spatter out all over the kitchen? Well, that’s a bonus.
The crust contains an undetermined number of Oreos, but I figure it is about right.
Ben and I prefer smooth peanut butter, but the recipe called for chunky so that’s what we did.
This thing is at least 4 inches high!
How did we do?
Happy Valentine’s Day!

8 thoughts on ““They are one person. They are two alone. They are three together. They are for each other.”*”

    1. Thank you so much for reading the blog! Ben loves all things food related, so it’s a good way to share his enthusiasm!

    1. It was really good, but very rich. The remainder is in the freezer because we don’t need those calories every day, but that hasn’t slowed down Ben’s request for a piece every day!

  4. Hi Liz! We met at swimming lessons. I believe my son Jett and Ben have reconnected at school, during lunch. Jett is a freshman. This is such a great blog!!

    1. Thanks Sue! That was awhile back, but I remember! That’s great that Ben and Jett have reconnected. It’s interesting how many people remember Ben from swimming lessons. I guess he made a “splash”!

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