Apple and Peach Salad with Blackberry Balsamic Vinegar

Valentine’s Day was a week ago today.  I always try to make something special for dinner to reflect on all the things that T does for me, to let him know how special he is to me.  This year things were up in the air with my Mom and Valentine’s Day came and went with no acknowledgements, for which I was so very grateful.  Once my head cleared I knew I still wanted to do something special and picked this evening.

I am not one that likes to eat out much and five-star restaurants have their place…  We have eaten at so many great five-star restaurants… example we ate at Napoleons in New Orleans, nice, really nice but to tell you the truth I loved eating at Uglesich’s (in central city New Orleans,) no food could compare and it is sad to say they are no longer in business… or take me back to Franky and Johnny’s what a marvel and what a difference in price from Napoleons.   T holds likes to hold on to a penny until it turns green, so I will let him hold on to his green pennies for a while longer.  Is that true love or not?

I love doing this dinner each year but wanted to tone it down a bit from a year ago… pacing me helped with this decision.  We both love a good salad and with the Blackberry Balsamic Vinegar I made last season I decided to up it a notch with crisp apples and peaches and add a little Feta Cheese and a few other salad regulars… it made an out of this world salad.

T loves pork and I decided to make stuffed pork chops with roasted brussel sprouts.  To end the dinner I went with an Italian pudding dessert… Caramel Budino with Salted Caramel Sauce it was exceptional, like an old world custard and the caramel sauce was just enough different it was such a delight.

Today I am posting the picture of the salad and will post the others courses of the meal in the next few days.  We both enjoyed this meal so much and it was something that lifted our spirits and made us forget reality for at least a while….