John, like many Australians, doesn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. It’s an American holiday cooked up to sell greeting cards and candy he tells me. He also tells me that he’s romantic every single day and I can choose one day or 365. Yes, I roll my eyes every time he says that.
Back in the heady romantic days when we were getting to know each other, I visited Australia and a few months later John visited me in the states and we took off on a road trip. We stayed in a small hotel somewhere in Georgia and when the desk clerk found out that John was visiting from Australia on a romantic holiday, they gave us the bridal suite.
I was exhausted and went in and started resting on the bed and watching television. John was in the bathroom and I heard, “wow” and “talk about over the top” but I didn’t go in and ask what was going on. Back then, bathrooms were private places and frankly they still are.
I heard the bathtub water running and a few minutes later a smiling man came into the room and said, “You’re really tired, how about a soak in the tub. I’ve run the bath for you.”
I got up and went into the bathroom and there before my tired eyes was a jacuzzi the size of a small swimming pool. It was full of bubbles too and on the edge of the tub were two glasses of chilled Champagne. He does have romantic ideas sometimes, just not every day
When I saw two glasses on the tub I knew we were sharing the tub but hey, we didn’t get to see each other very often and those were the days we couldn’t keep our hands off each other. In we went and I sat down and took a glass of Champagne and reached over to clink glasses and then it happened. I lost butt suction on the bottom of the tub and because I’m so short and the tub was so big, down I went.
Spluttering, I came up for air with a mound of bubbles on my head and said, “How much bubble stuff did you pour in here, anyway?”
“It’s a big tub so I put in half the bottle,” he said, trying not to to laugh.
So I sat back up and retrieved the wine glass and put it on the side of the tub and down I went again. I did this three time and each time I laughed harder than the time before until I was crying — my abdomen hurt from laughing so much.
“This is so NOT romantic,” he said with complete frustration.
So we decided to try again. He drained the water, rinsed the tub and started all over. By then the moment had passed and we just got clean and went out to dinner. I remember it was a lovely Chinese restaurant but every time we looked at each other we’d burst out laughing.
If we’d had these truffles we might never have made it to the tub. Do you have any funny memories that crack you up?
Happy Valentine’s Day from both of us to you.
- 225 grams chocolate - well chopped (or use chocolate chips)
- 175ml cream
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1-2 tablespoons liqueur (I used Cointreau)
- Heat cream to the steaming point but not boiling. Add butter and when the butter has melted,
- Pour cream over the chopped chocolate and wait 2 minutes. Stir until silky smooth.
- Add liqueur and stir.
- Cover and leave to cool (or place in the refrigerator)
- Using a spoon, dip out the chocolate and form into balls with your hands and place back in the refrigerator and leave for an hour.
- Roll in cocoa, coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles, or anything you like.