So, there is St. Valentine’s day and all the relevant expectations. In a corona-tinted lockdown it’s hard to make this glorious occasion special.
- Spend an evening together?
- Cook a festive dinner for two?
- Order pizza or curry (if you are lucky enough to have an option of restaurant delivery)?
- Talk?
- Exchange news?
- Play truth or dare?
- No, really?
We went as far as agree to have separate dinners with my parents – as an opportunity to split into two romantic couples for one night. Plus a child, but she’ll go to bed eventually. It’s raining cats and dogs (literally: on Corfu the only creatures out there in this weather are cats, dogs and water), which calls off a lovely walk in the mountains. So we’ll stay at home and stare at each other.
Actually we’ve been in this mode for a year now, and we are still more or less sane, and saying “I love you” once in a while, isn’t that a reason to celebrate?
I decided not to cook (much). We found a nice little grocery shop within a walking distance (i.e. a distance that doesn’t wear your soles off), they still sell some of their summer supplies and occasionally refresh the contents of the fridge. We bought a few interesting local cheeses (they looked interesting, not sure how they are going to smell), there is a bottle of red wine on the top of the cupboard, I made a sour-sweet syrup out of kumquats and passion fruits (not something anyone sells, it just grows on trees around here) to complement the cheese. I’ll also have a go at ciabatta tonight, but can’t promise any results. I’m only going to do it because it needs just 1/4 teaspoon yeast for a big loaf. I’d like to bake a bread with almost no yeast.
I used to have a weakness for romantic gestures. Even now, I started to think – is there anything cute I can buy or cook?
Buying isn’t really an option. For example, I made an online order at Marks & Spenser Greece about 1,5 months ago. The order, among other things, contained an unspecified present for my husband. New Year or St. Valentine’s, I thought, whatever will be nearest by the time of delivery. I didn’t expect that M&S Greece would import goods from the UK though. Neither I expected that it would get stuck in Athens in a non-stop clearance. I called DHL eventually, they said oh well, after Brexit you’d have to fill out a few forms. They sent me the forms (name, address, ID). They requested a full description of the shipment contents. I sent them a full description including links to the website and cost per item (I work in IT, I know how to copypaste). Clearance goes on. Right now I’m hoping we’ll get it sorted before we fly away. It’s not as urgent but a nice to have, for sure.
So if buying isn’t an option, I resort to cooking. Something heart-shaped. Probably sweet. I thought gingerbreads. I don’t have any ginger here (I don’t like it either), so this is what I used:
- 1 egg
- 1 orange. We need a teaspoon or two zest + all the juice we can squeeze. There is no juicer, so I squeeze with my hands [superhero emoji].
- 3-4 tablespoons oil
- Honey (quantity defined by your taste, I plan 2-3 tablespoons)
- Some ground pepper (to replace ginger and actually the aroma is much more intense)
- Cinnamon (1 teaspoon), cocoa powder (1 tablespoon), pinch of salt
- Flour (I take wholemeal, obviously; if you read my blog, you’ll know I’m no fan of plain wheat)
- Baking powder (I’d say 1 tablespoon)
- Crushed nuts (I take almonds)
I also added a tablespoon milk and around four chopped dates, but that’s entirely optional. Most of the ingredients are optional or replaceable.
- Mix salt, egg, orange juice, oil, honey, pepper, cinnamon and cocoa. I use a mixer, it’s more fun.
- Add zest, nuts, stir with a spoon or a fork.
- Add baking powder, stir.
- Gradually add flour until you get this consistency:
The dough will be very sticky and rather thick, you can form shapes on the baking paper with it.
5. Actually I was after shaping. I wanted hearts if you remember. Now, if I had heart-shaped baking forms here, it wouldn’t be a problem. I don’t have them though, so I used the next best thing (wet hands + toothpick + some devotion). Here are our nicely formed gingerbreads on the tray with baking paper.
![](https://alinamelis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_9020.jpg?w=640)
6. In the meantime preheat the oven to 180 C. These gingerbreads will bake very quickly (10-15 min), so keep an eye on them and don’t go away. We are aiming for a plump shape, a hard brown cracked crust and a dry wooden stick.
![](https://alinamelis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_9022.jpg?w=640)
7. This wasn’t quite enough, I thought, so I covered them with crunchy chocolate glazing. But that’s easy, you take a couverture (I had Nestle), melt it and coat your gingerbreads. You can melt plain chocolate too. Decorated with candied kumquats (of which I have plenty, as I said already).
![](https://alinamelis.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/img_9030.jpg?w=640)
Now let them rest until they are cool and the glazing has set. I’ll wait until tomorrow. They are St Valentine’s gingerbreads, after all.