When you are missing your sweetheart on a romantic day

 

I’ve been though this a couple of times now, since I lost Bruce in the summer of 2020, and I still feel a nudge from the beast we call grief when I face yet another holiday without him. I have saved the Valentine’s Day cards he gave me and treasure them. Valentine’s Day is the most romantic of holidays and I recall coping with being alone on this many years ago, after a divorce.  I felt resentment watching couples enjoying the romantic rituals to celebrate their love.  It is a similar feeling now in my widowhood.  Not resentful anymore, just wistful. 

I often take my black lab for a walk so that we can both get some fresh air and exercise, but with winters in Maine, it is hard to find a place to walk that is not slippery with ice and snow.  Trails can be hazardous unless there is sufficient snow to use snowshoes.  I found the perfect solution, walking from the main road up a well-groomed sidewalk in our local senior living complex.  Independent living cottages are scattered along the road, and the sidewalk is always plowed.  Almost no one uses this sidewalk so we have it to ourselves.  Last Sunday was a beautiful day that followed a two-day minus zero cold snap, so I walked Cooper up and down this road.  Along the way, we met up with a lovely older couple, who looked the perfect image of aging together, in love for a long time, walking arm in arm.  They stopped to say hello to Cooper and we spoke for a moment.  After we moved on, I thought about how that was exactly the image I had in my head for the way Bruce and I would age together.  But it was not to be.

I have friends who are widows, who have a fear of being alone, to the point where they take up dating again rather than face life alone.  I’ve watched failures and successes at romance from this perspective.  Sometimes there is heartache and disappointment.  For me, I am willing to accept that I have all I can do to manage myself and don’t have the energy or interest in a new relationship.  My advice to others is, take your time and try not to feel frantic about being alone, rather get comfortable with solitude.

So in the spirit of not worrying about romance on this most romantic of holidays, I say bring on the garlic!  As a lover of garlic, I’ll cook the most garlicy dishes I know, 40 clove chicken and garlicy potatoes.  These two dishes go great together! I am sharing these two recipes which use a total of fifty cloves of garlic!

Trivia about garlic:  Garlic is in the allium family of plants,which include chives, scallions and shallots.  Garlic is also known as the “Stinking Rose” and I have been to a restaurant by that name in San Francisco that specializes in garlic dishes of all kinds!  Gilroy, California is the garlic capitol of America, with so many garlic farms that you can smell garlic as you drive by.  Garlic was called “Russian penicillin” during World War II, give to soldiers as an antibiotic.  Never burn your garlic cloves when cooking, it becomes very bitter! 

 

Forty clove garlic step one

40 Clove Garlic Chicken

(Yes, you read that right!  Forty cloves of garlic!)

1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 lbs. bone-in chicken pieces (choose all breast meat or mixed
sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 cup flour plus added salt, pepper and seasonings
40 peeled cloves of garlic
1 cup chicken stock
½ cup white wine
½ cup light cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Place seasoned flour in a plate and dredge chicken pieces in flour to coat.
Melt butter in a large skillet and add olive oil.
Place chicken pieces in hot butter and oil and brown on both sides.
Remove chicken pieces to roasting pan
Add garlic cloves to the skillet, turn heat down to avoid burning the garlic and saute’ until softened.  Add chicken stock and wine and boil down until liquid is reduced by one-half.
Add heavy cream.
Pour garlic sauce over chicken pieces in roasting pan and bake for 45 minutes.

 

Garlic Festival Potatoes

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

5 medium size red potatoes
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup light cream
10-12 cloves of garlic
ground black pepper

Thinly slice potatoes and place them in layers in a large, shallow baking dish
 (similar to scalloped potatoes)
Cover potatoes with an even layer of cheddar cheese
Spread chopped garlic over all
Pour cream over potatoes, sprinkle black pepper over all.
Bake for 40-50 minutes.