whenever, however

Three things I know:

1. Celebrating may have to do with celebrating something on a prescribed date, but not always. I learned that with my class/commuting schedule, there's no guarantee that I'll feel like making a big shebang out of something if it falls on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday, even if the celebration in question falls on one of those days. Even if said holiday (like Valentine's Day, next Tuesday) doesn't fall on a commuting day, I may not feel like doing the special something I feel like doing now. So do it now. Period.

2. There is no 'right' way to celebrate a special day. One of my favorite people ever would really like to eat enchiladas on Thanksgiving Day, for instance, because she prefers them to your average Thanksgiving fare. DO IT, I say.

3. You, yes you, must learn to make a pavlova. What is a pavlova, you ask? The thing that will impress you and your guests every time. The thing that always elicits feelings of indulgence and sophistication. It is...

absolutely gorgeous, right? Meringue, topped with creamy fluff, topped with fruit. It also happens to be naturally gluten free, which means at future birthday celebrations we may just have a few variations on a theme for our celebrating pals to choose from. There are so many possibilities with this simple recipe. We really like a chocolate pav with rasberries or blackberries on top, and this one goes incredibly with strawberries or, I hear, passionfruit (there goes local eating).

Today Lissie and I checked out some books correlating with Black History Month (more on this in a later post), but I also felt like throwing out a tribute to Valentine's Day. Since we bought the chevre on Saturday, I have been craving it on pizza. When Lissie awoke from her nap and uttered the invariable, "Mommy, I hungry", I whispered conspiratorially if she would like to make some pizza. You can guess what she said in reply.

In charge of her own 'baby' pizza:
"Done!"
So what does this have to with Valentine's Day, right? Take a gander at my oh-so-creative idea:

Lissie helped put on the toppings (some of the cheese escaped her mouth):
Ready to put in:
Waiting. She likes to sit on this ball and sing to herself at various times throughout the day. In this case, while she waited for some Valentine's pizza.

Almost ready to eat:


Sadly, I couldn't make this dinner special for everyone. Derrick had to come home to gluten free leftovers. Haha, poor guy.