Valentine's Day

It was a fun Valentine's weekend around the Brandt house. I already told you about Fogo De Chao on Friday, but what I didn't mention was that Jeremy was also planning a surprise for me on Saturday. That is, until I walked downstairs and he was in the middle of a phonecall to a friend and I accidentally heard some plans. So the surprise element was gone, but it all worked out great. We went with some friends to a restaurant called "The Nook" in St. Paul. It's a hole-in-the-wall burger place but apparently has been featured on The Food Network, and it was delicious. Jeremy got a burger that had pepperjack cheese inside the hamburger (like a Juicy Lucy if you've heard of that). I got a plain burger (big surprise there), onion rings, and a shake. Afterwards we walked around the shops in Maple Grove for a bit and then went home to rescue the babysitter.

The next morning the girls woke up to a Valentine's table and thought that was pretty cool.

After church we decorated heart sugar cookies and that was fun, too.

It was a great Valentine's Day and I hope yours was good, too!

Now this week Jeremy and I are participating in a 5-day food challenge that our church is doing. They just started a series called the Micah Project (based on the verse Micah 6:8) and are challenging everyone to participate by eating only what much of the world eats: rice, beans, oatmeal, cornbread, tortillas, bits of fish or chicken (not more than a chicken nugget size), and tap water. Eat three meals a day, no more than 1 cup of food per meal. It's not like a total fast, but will still be tough. So far the first day is going well, and the red beans and rice mixture I have cooking in the slow cooker for dinner tonight actually smells pretty good! Around 11:00 this morning I was getting pretty hungry and found myself getting crabby with the girls. But I want to stick with it all week and not cheat! I have never done anything like this so pray for me! We want to feel the hunger pains that half the world feels, and appreciate what we have so much more. We are very blessed here in America. If you want to watch a great, eye-opening video, scroll back to the top and play the "Mini Earth" video under the big picture.

P.S. Fast forward a few hours . . . although the red beans and rice mixture smelled good, it did not taste good. Despite several spices in it, it had no flavor. Therefore we became even more appreciative of all the wonderful flavors of food we have to choose from.

P.P.S. I would love to have just one Hershey's miniature chocolate right now but am not going to.