This Valentine’s Day I felt the overwhelming urge to sear something. I decided to make a variation on a recipe I saw in Real Simple. I started by cooking my favorite arborio rice in white wine.

Then I got ready to sear my scallops. I bought large size New England scallops (<3 Boston) and defrosted then. I put a large dollop of olive oil in the pan and turned the heat up to medium/high. I made sure to season the scallops with sea salt and pepper before cooking them. I placed them in the pan and let them cook on one side for 4 minutes.

I flipped them after 4 minutes.

After another four minutes I transferred the scallops from the pan onto a plate. The rice had also finished so I transferred it as well. I covered the whole thing with foil so it would stay warm. Then I wiped out the pan. I put a smaller dollop of olive oil into the pan and added snow peas, salt, pepper, and orange zest. I cooked them for about 3 mins.

Holy yumm did it turn out good. I had a slight fear that it would be over salted but that did not happen.

I decided to declare yesterday an “off day” from my commitment to health. Saturday night was Barristers Ball and I woke up the next morning voraciously craving a bagel and cream cheese. Normally when I eat healthy I keep with it until I give myself an off day. One off day spirals into a week and before I know it I’m back where I started. I let myself have the bagel and it was so good. It was the perfect splurge. I went home and relaxed most of the day. I did manage to go on a great run. It was practically 80 degrees and sunny here in LA yesterday and I got into a groove and went over three miles on hills. It felt great and completely kicked my hang over. Overall, eating a bagel was great, but the energy I felt from my run was better.

After my scallops I had a canolli from Whole Foods. It wasn’t as good as a canolli from Mike’s in the North End, but it was still pretty delicious. Happy belated valentines day everyone!