GBBC and Valentine's Day

We participated in the Great Backyard Bird Count last weekend, and it was a very cool experience. We only spent 15-30 minutes observing each day. Here is what we saw:

SATURDAY:

2 Northern Cardinals
1 American Goldfinch
1 Carolina Wren
1 White Throated Sparrow
1 House Finch
2 Mockingbirds

This mockingbird (I think) perched in the bottle tree like a real tree cracked me up.

SUNDAY:
2 Mourning Doves
1 White Throated Sparrow
2 Tufted Titmice
1 Carolina Chickadee
8 American Robins
2 Northern Cardinals
2 House Finches
+/-25 American Crows (creepy!)
1 MockingbirdHow cute is this goldfinch?!

Moving on...

Scott and I are very low-key about holidays, and generally don't buy each other gifts. Since he works nights, we hardly ever see each other - so a Valentine's Day spent at home together was a treat! We just cooked and lounged around. I made these blueberry scones with lemon glaze for breakfast:

Here is Tyler Florence's recipe for the scones. He says not to use frozen blueberries but I often do, and they work out fine. I half the amount of lemon juice and butter in the glaze recipe, otherwise it is too thin.

Scott made my favorite, eggplant parmesan, for dinner. It was delicious (tough to photograph, though, and I didn't feel like spending much time on it and letting my meal get cold).

Here is the basic recipe. This is from Bobby Flay's Throwdown. We use regular old shredded mozzarella, parmesano reggiano instead of the romano, and a mixture of lowfat milk and one egg rather than the four eggs. We use this sauce recipe, which is from my favorite vegetarian chef, Heidi Swanson (her cookbook Cook 1.0 is awesome).

White Trash Toffee was our dessert:

This stuff is addictive, and so easy! Get the recipe here. I sub pecans.