Happy 6th Valentine's Day, Gabe!

Happy 6th Valentine's Day, Gabe!

I think normally, I wouldn't be the type of person to care about Valentine's Day. Gabe and I probably aren't like most other couples in many ways. However, Valentine's Day 2004 happens to be the first time we ever hung out alone...like kind of on a date. He took me out to Sotto Cinque in the UES, then we had ice cream at Cold Stone (when it first opened in NY), and then watched tv at his Water St dorm. So Valentine's Day has a rather special place in my heart, mainly because that's really the only sort of anniversary we have. We've spent Valentine's Day together every year, so it was kind of weird to not be able to spend it together this year, but we tried our best. We both cooked dinner, then Skyped while eating dinner. I know, it's lame and corny, but we had to do something. And since we both love to cook, it was a good reason to do so.

I made the usual amatriciana using some of the guanciale Gabe gave me for Christmas. Instead of bucatini, I used linguine because those are the only long noodles I have. It wasn't my best batch of amatriciana pasta because the canned tomatoes didn't have much juice. I probably should have added some water, but oh well. It still turned out decently well.


Gabe, however, made something WAAAAY more impressive. He made ricotta (not potato) gnocchi with tomato sauce and pancetta (his guanciale went moldy). Yes, he made the gnocchi from SCRATCH! I think that's incredibly impressive, and I'm very proud of him. It makes me feel so lucky to have a man who can cook. I have no doubt in my mind that he put a lot of love into making the gnocchi. Mmm. Don't these soft pillows of love look delicious in that picture?