Day 214: Made A Very Special Recipe

"A way to a man's heart is through his stomach."  If that phrase is true, then I know exactly how my wife made me fall in love with her (besides tricking me into taking her out on a date which is a whole other story).  I've documented on this blog before how outstanding of a cook my wife is.  Each Sunday, she does the grocery shopping and documents on her chalkboard menu which gourmet meals we will be enjoying that week.  I am not kidding when I say that when I come home from work, it is like entering a 5 star restaurant, and I am extremely appreciative for that.  Lindsey has been able to become such an accomplished amateur chef through a steady stream of cookbooks and recipe magazines, but one of the biggest influences on her culinary ways has been the Food Network.  The Food Network plays on our television so much that it has almost become ambient sound in our household.  Lindsey is so obsessed with the Food Network (and the Cooking Channel) that I was surprised when she agreed to name our daughter Isla Quin rather than Rachael Giada.  So when I was trying to think of random acts to do for Lindsey, I wanted to definitely involve cooking, but somehow wanted to find a way to incorporate the Food Network/Cooking Channel.

Our friend Laura has been a great help with 366 Random Acts.  She has given a ton of suggestions, participated in a few, and also babysat Isla while Lindsey and I were out performing some.  As per usual, she asked if she could help in any way with the random acts for Lindsey this week.  I remembered a while back that Laura had mentioned that her friend, Lisa, was the sister of Jeffrey Saad, a tremendous chef and star of Season 5 of The Next Food Network Star and Cooking Channel's United Tastes of America.  I figured it was a long shot, but I asked Laura if she could potentially work her magic to see if Jeffrey might be able to create a recipe for Lindsey for our anniversary.  I didn't put a whole lot of hope into it due to the fact that on top of his filming schedule, he also was releasing a new cookbook, so I assumed he was a pretty busy guy.  You can imagine my surprise when Laura called me with the exciting news that Jeffrey would be more than happy to send a recipe in honor of our anniversary.  Jeffrey is a pretty philanthropic guy himself having been a supporter of The Alexandria House since 2006 (The Alexandria House is a transitional house in Los Angeles for previously homeless and/or impoverished single women and women with children that helps serve as a shelter to allow them a chance to get back on their feet), so along with the recipe, he sent along some well wishes for our 366 Random Acts.  So this evening, for my random acts of kindness, I am going to be making my wife the very special recipe that Jeffrey Saad sent along for her.  I am super excited about this one, and I think she might flip out over it.