fancy bread and candles a valentine dinner make

the days pass by in a topsy-turvy rainy mist: fridays become mondays and tuesdays become fridays. each week feels twice as long -- with two "mondays" -- and yet twice as fast, with two "fridays." so it wasn't exactly a surprise that up until a couple days ago, i had thought that tomorrow was already President's Day.

even after i remembered Valentine's Day, i vaguely wondered what, exactly, it had to do with me, since i'd be working till 10:30pm that day. it wasn't until later that i felt so adult about this response of pure indifference. in fact, i had always been pretty giddy and girlish when it came to v-day, and had celebrated the past 5 of them each with a unique plan and a different boy in an ascending level of romantic settings, starting with "i don't remember" in 12th grade, progressing to "dorm room" freshman year, followed by "dinner," "movie," and "ice skating."

this year, i am single on v-day for the first time and if i'd been concerned at some point about spending it alone, i must have forgotten about it. so with neither love nor hate towards this holiday, i didn't think to celebrate it at all. but when the snow kept falling and i was coming to the end of groceries and the loan of an all-wheel-drive 2009 subaru (AKA the "i-got-sold-a-lemon-and-the-dealership-is-now-trying-to-cover-their-ass-while-doing-repairs" car), i figured i should really get to the store in case the city shuts down from snow and i'm left stranded with no car and no food. when i had finished shopping and on my way to pay, i walked by the bakery section and my eyes fell upon some dark and mysterious loaves of bread, freshly baked and wrapped in stiff paper. "fancy bread," i thought, "just the kind my mom would trade anything for." and suddenly, i realized i DID want to celebrate v-day, but not with the customary 79% dark chocolate that i devour and collect, but with this darling of a loaf:



the "olive" caught my eye first, for i'm particularly partial to anything olive-related. then i noticed just how cute it was: at only 8 ounces, the loaf was surely petite, but subtly shined with such wholesomeness and health that i couldn't think of anything else i'd rather eat for dessert tonight.





and so i stepped out of the snow storm, sat by the fire at home, and enjoyed Zingerman-quality bread with the sun-bathed olive flavor of the Mediterranean, complete with this:





and this:


Happy Valentine' s Day <3