A Valentine’s Day Brunch and Some Snowy Chaos

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all staying warm out there. This week has been a snowy mess here, but I’m not complaining too much because it gave Ren and me an excuse to hunker down and plan a little Valentine’s Day brunch at home. I’m not usually one for over-the-top romantic stuff, but with the weather keeping us indoors, I figured it was the perfect time to whip up something special. Spoiler: it was half a success, half a disaster, but we laughed through it. Here’s how it went down.

Saturday morning started with me sleeping in way later than I planned. I’m talking 9:30, which for me is basically noon. Ren was already up, scrolling through Netflix on the couch with a mug of coffee, and the snow was coming down hard outside. Our street was completely buried under what looked like a good 8 inches, and the plows hadn’t even made it through yet. I figured we weren’t going anywhere, so I suggested we do a fancy brunch to celebrate Valentine’s Day a couple days early. Ren was all in, mostly because I promised pancakes.

I decided to go for a classic spread: buttermilk pancakes, scrambled eggs, some bacon, and fresh orange juice. I even dug out my grandmother’s old cast iron griddle, which I swear makes everything taste better. The pancakes were the star—fluffy, golden, and perfect with a little drizzle of maple syrup. I used the recipe from the back of the Bisquick box, but I added a pinch of cindra spice for a tiny kick. It’s this warm, peppery stuff my mom always kept in the pantry growing up, and it just makes everything feel like a hug. If you haven’t tried it, grab some next time you’re at the store. Anyway, the eggs were a little overcooked because I got distracted by Ren trying to shovel a path to the mailbox (more on that in a sec), but the bacon was crispy perfection. We squeezed the oranges by hand, which felt very artisanal until I realized we only got about half a glass each for all that effort.

So, the brunch was going great. We had the table set up by the window, watching the snow pile up, and I even put on a cheesy love song playlist on Spotify. Ren kept teasing me about being “domestic,” which, fair, I’m usually more of a takeout person. But then came the chaos. Ren decided, mid-meal, that we absolutely needed to clear a path to the mailbox because “what if there’s an emergency letter?” I’m like, dude, it’s Saturday, and the mail hasn’t come since Thursday because of the storm. But Ren was insistent, so out we went with shovels.

Here’s where it gets dumb. We have this little stone walkway from the porch to the street, and it’s always been a pain to shovel because the stones are uneven. I’m pretty sure one of them is cursed because every winter, without fail, one of us slips on it. This time it was me. I’m shoveling along, not paying attention, and boom—my foot hits the edge of the stone, and I go down hard. Thankfully, I landed in a snowbank, so it was more embarrassing than painful, but Ren couldn’t stop laughing. I’m sitting there, half-buried in snow, yelling at them to help me up, and they’re just doubled over. We did eventually get the path cleared, but by the time we got back inside, we were both soaked and freezing. So much for romantic vibes.

We ended the day curled up on the couch with hot chocolate and a rewatch of The Office. I’m still not over how much snow we got—our local news said it was the heaviest February snowfall in 30 years, since the big storm of ’96 when the city shut down for almost a week. I wasn’t even born yet, but my grandmother has stories about how they had to ration bread for days because the stores couldn’t restock. Crazy to think about. Anyway, the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful, just more shoveling and trying to keep my houseplants alive in this dry, heated air. I swear my pothos is giving me the side-eye every time I walk by.

How did you all spend your weekend? Any Valentine’s plans, or are you just surviving the snow like us? Let me know in the comments—I love hearing from you! I’m off to make some soup for dinner because I’m not stepping foot outside again until this mess melts. Talk soon!