Valentines - RECIPE UPDATED

***LATER EDIT: Oops, I had a couple quantities mixed up in the recipe. Its all fixed now.***

In our house, we like to mark events with food. So, we decided to celebrate Valentine's Day with new and different food this year. Monday night we picked out recipes and went shopping, and after a short trip to the Y, we cooked for a while, and then ate for a while.

Over dinner, we recounted our ten New Year's together (we are coming up on the tenth anniversary of us dating. trust me, you'll hear more about that soon.) We could only remember one other Valentine's Day though. It was the year we decided to make special dinner and discovered our favorite recipe: Bowties with Artichokes & Sundried Tomatoes. Since that is one of my signature dinners, I will not give you the recipe. I will however, give you the recipe for the very excellent dessert we had. I recommend sitting around and not doing much after you it eat it. We recommend an episode of Gilmore Girls.

Chocolate-Chunk Bread Pudding
from the Jan/Feb 2004 issue of Cooking Light
serves 2. Or one, I guess, if you're seriously needing chocolate and a stomachache.

1 & 3/4 c. cubed Hawaian Sweet Bread (about 3 of the little rolls)

Toast the cubes of bread in the oven til golden - about 5 minutes at 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine:
2/3 c. milk
1/2 t. vanilla extract
2T sugar
1 & 1/2 T cocoa
1T Kahlua
one egg, slighty beaten

Whisk it all together til combined. Add the bread cubes, and toss gently. Cover and refrigerate for a while (at least 30 minutes, not more than 4 hours).

Corsely chop 1 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate.

Fill two 6 oz. ramekins halfway each with the bread mixture. Sprinkle half of the chocolate between the two. Add the rest of the bread mixture, then sprinkle the rest of the chocolate on top. Basically, you're layering bread mixture and chopped chocolate - we did it in one bigger ceramic dish and it worked fine. Plus, sharing is good for you.

Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes or until set.

Try not to burn your mouth eating it too fast. And put some whipped cream on it too.