Who’s a toffee fan, like me? If you are, I highly encourage you to check out John & Kira’s new toffees. I’m pretty sure this variety is carried at Emily Joubert Home & Garden (Woodside, CA) but Paul didn’t realize it and mail ordered some for Valentine’s Day (along with the ladybug chocolates illustrating my story yesterday).

These are not ordinary toffees. I think it’s the 62% Valrhona chocolate they use, along with copious amounts of butter and sugar. However, it might be the Eagle Ranch pistachios. They are grown by a family in south-central New Mexico and I love the fact that John and Kira actively search out family farms to source their ingredients. It makes me feel ‘slightly’ better about how far these goodies travel to reach them and us. I just keep tellilng myself: we need to support small farms in America!

John & Kira’s is located in Philadelphia but they embody so many ideals of how to run a sustainable, high quality business I can’t help but love them (and feed my family’s addiction every now and then). By the way, I didn’t get to taste a single ladybug chocolate… Tate, my little cutie, devoured them in one’s and two’s until they were gone. He’s now planning to use his own allowance to buy more as soon as I will let him!

My Valentine’s story is about a moment of “real” love versus “romantic” love. Many people, me among them, get excited about Valentine’s Day for the chance to express or receive romantic love. Whether it’s a box of chocolates, flowers, shoes, or a heartfelt card, Valentine’s Day is one day of the year when you can loudly and publicly proclaim your love for your partner. Or that you’re so loved, you receive these kinds of romantic gestures. But I want to tell you the most romantic thing my husband did for me this year was take over making dinner when I was falling apart.

I had minor vascular surgery on Friday and had been directed to elevate my leg 3-4 times a day for 20-30 minutes. On Monday, I was too busy with work, kids and other projects to take any time during the day to rest and elevate. So by the time 6:30 rolled around, I was in severe pain and completely panicked about getting our fun Valentine’s menu on the table. Paul was in the middle of an important conference call but the minute he saw my face, he exited the meeting and took over dinner prep. He got the lamb burgers on the grill, chopped rainbow chard, directed the boys to set the table, opened the wine, lit candles, etc. All this while making sure I had a solid 20 minutes on the couch with my leg raised.

I felt bad he left an important business call to take care of me and our family but he assured me nothing was more important than making certain I was ok. And I was reminded that those are moments of real love, more romantic than any Hallmark or Teleflora gesture.

I’m still thinking about it two days later and feeling more deep love for him than any Valentine’s Day I can remember.