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"  Brucie is a restaurant in Brooklyn, New York,\u00A0that has been around for five\u00A0and half years.\u00A0Valentine&amp;#039;s Day has always been the biggest night of the year for us. Not because we\u00A0 capitalized on the clich\u00E9s but because we made it a crazy fun party night that didn&amp;#039;t necessarily have anything to do with romance. This year, it will also\u00A0be Brucie&amp;#039;s final night on earth, and we are throwing the biggest party ever for our loyal fans\u00A0to commemorate and celebrate the end of our five-and-a-half year relationship.\u00A0It will be\u00A0 bittersweet,\u00A0 so we&amp;#039;ve been thinking about what the day really means. \u00A0 Oh, Valentine&amp;#039;s Day, that notorious harbinger of broken\u00A0hearts, broken condoms, broken car windows, and early onset diabetes. You know when it&amp;#039;s coming. You see the chocolate, the cupids, the heart-shaped everything, and the pounds of delicious garbage candy in fifty thousand shades of pink cat-calling you every time you enter the local drugstore. It&amp;#039;s a magical time of year when a girl can&amp;#039;t go get tampons without getting smacked in the face with a shiny pink Justin Bieber mylar balloon. For women there&amp;#039;s the added pressure to choose whether to celebrate or ignore it, to shave your pubes to resemble a lovers initials,\u00A0to remain a composed and studious seventh grader while desperately hoping your crush delivers a valentine, or\u00A0to ignore it altogether in hopes of being considered romantically indifferent\u00A0and above it all like Ruth Bader Ginsberg. We are expected to eat an entire box of chocolates, or a dozen oysters, or edible underwear, or some duck confit, but not too much, because after all, this is our day to shine in the sack, and not from duck fat. So what would it look like if we gave up on these pressures and took the air out of the heart-shaped balloon in a way that redirects the conversation to self-love rather than self-loathing? If we leave the red pig Beanie Babies and unfulfilled expectations back at the CVS, we can re-imagine February 14 as the day that celebrates the loves in our lives, for ourself and for others. The truth is that the person who has been with you since the beginning, laughs at all of your jokes, understands your bizarre internal dialogue, likes you even when you are mean, and knows exactly how to get you off is\u2026well, YOU! People will come and go in your life but\u00A0you are guaranteed to be around to cherish and love yourself until your dying day. And that&amp;#039;s pretty damn romantic. So we want to share with you the things, well, the foods, that would make our own personal Valentine&amp;#039;s Day better. Some of us would whole-heartedly embrace the clich\u00E9 and enjoy a $100 prix-fixe dinner with molten chocolate cake.\u00A0Some of us would get a little tipsy and\u00A0cook and eat coq au vin for two, alone in our pajamas with our cat. Some of us will make nachos with our magical friends while admiring that giant-haired goddess Julia Roberts in Mystic Pizza. Some of us will eat an entire pint of ice cream in the bathtub, and some of the more adventurous of us will do nothing at all. But enough about us, we want to know what you&amp;#039;ll be doing! And as an inspiration, here are some of our favorite recipes. Happy Valentine&amp;#039;s Day to You and to Me and to Us!\u00A0 Drunk AF Chicken for Two - AKA Coq Au Vin    Ingredients: 4 ounces bacon, diced into 1/2 inch lardons\u00A01 3Ib chicken, cut into 8 pieces \u00A01 yellow onion, sliced3 cloves of garlic, sliced\u00A04 medium sized carrots, sliced diagonally 1 inch thick\u00A08 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered\u00A08 ounces cipollini \u00A0onions5 sprigs fresh thyme\u00A03 sprigs fresh rosemary\u00A01/4 cup brandy or whiskey\u00A01/2 bottle red wine, dry French wine1 and 1/2 cup chicken stock\u00A01 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature\u00A01 tablespoon all-purpose flour\u00A0Olive oil\u00A0Kosher saltBlack pepper\u00A0 Preparation: 1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 2. Dry chicken pieces with paper towel and liberally salt and pepper on all sides.\u00A0 3. Heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven. Add bacon at a medium heat and cook until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon. Leaving behind all that good-good bacon fat.\u00A0 4. Start browning chicken on all sides, still over medium-high heat. Work in batches to make sure each chicken has room to breathe, it needs its space. As you finish, place the browned chicken on a plate with the bacon.\u00A0 5. Now add your carrots, onions, cipollini onions, and mushrooms. Add 1 tablespoon of salt and brown over medium-high heat for 5-8 minutes. Add garlic and continue to brown for 2 minutes. Add your poison of choice\u2014whiskey or brandy\u2014and the wine. As soon as it comes to a boil add chicken stock, chicken pieces, bacon lardons, rosemary, thyme, and any juices that might have accumulated on the chicken plate. \u00A0Cover with lid or aluminum foil and cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes. Once the chicken is cooked through, remove and put back on the stovetop.\u00A0 6. Smash the butter and the all-purpose flour together with your fingers and carefully whisk it into the sauce over a low heat. This is going to give your drunken chicken a little more glossiness and shine. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Season to taste.\u00A0 7. Pour yourself 1 glass to 1 bottle of wine. Enjoy solo. Or next to your cat as she enjoys a can of Extra Fancy cat food, it is a holiday after all! Or with a lover. Eat and drink to your heart&amp;#039;s content, fall into bed, watch Making a\u00A0Murderer on Netflix, have a passionate conversation about the failures of the American justice system. Ah, Valentine&amp;#039;s Day. Till next year.  Mystic Pizzeria Nachos  Ingredients: 6 cups tortilla chips2\u00A0cups\u00A0provolone cheese sauce (recipe below)1 cup finely diced fresh mozzarella1/4 cup diced pickled carrot1/2 cup shredded iceberg lettuce1/4 cup pickled hot peppers2 tbs chopped green olives2/tbs chopped black olives2 tbs diced raw red onion2tbs diced preserved artichoke hearts1 tbs capers1 tbs good chopped anchoviesFat dollop, or two, plain Greek yogurtDrench to taste with pizzeria vinaigrette (recipe below) Provolone Cheese Sauce Ingredients:1 cup shredded provolone2 cups heavy cream1 tablespoon cornstarch1 teaspoon Frank&amp;#039;s hot sauceSalt to taste Preparation: 1. In a medium saucepan combine all ingredients and simmer on medium\u00A0heat whisking gently until sauce comes to a simmer, about 5 minutes.2. Remove from heat and pour all over nachos, or just eat with a spoon!3. If sauce breaks or becomes grainy, put in blender once slightly cooled. Pizzeria vinaigrette Ingredients:1 cup Extra-Virgin Olive Oil1/4 cup red wine vinegar1 tablespoon dried oregano1 tablespoon diced raw red onion1/4 teaspoon minced raw garlic1/4 teaspoon chili flakeSalt and black pepper to taste Preparation: Combine all ingredients in bowl and whisk together!\u00A0 Now, time to assemble the nachos! 1. Queue up Mystic Pizza on VHS.2. Get Bonnie Raitt playing on Spotify.3. Make sure your cheese sauce is melty and spiced to your desired level of mouth burnt-ness.4. Get a gigantic platter and spread chips on bottom.5. Drizzle with molten lava hot cheese sauce.6. Sprinkle toppings on in a way that makes sense to you. Are you a\u00A0lettuce under olives person? It&amp;#039;s none of my business, but now is the time to find out!7. Top with yogurt and pizzeria vinaigrette.8. Eat them all while watching Mystic Pizza.9. Go to bed.  Pint of\u00A0Ice Cream  Ingredients: 1 crumpled up 10 dollar bill1 Shirt1 pair of Shoes Directions: 1. Grab shirt and shoes and put them on.2. Walk, jog, meander, or mosey on over to your local bodega (or grocery store).3. Dig around in the freezer forgoing flavor preferences for the least ice- encrusted pint of ice cream.4. Carry to the counter5. Make a lame joke to the bodega guy about how you are buying this for a &amp;quot;friend.&amp;quot;6. Refuse a bag.7. Walk, jog, meander, or mosey on back home with your prize clutched triumphantly in your fist.8. Enjoy entire container in one sitting   Jennie Lupo is the Chef de Cuisine, Nicole the General Manager, and Zahra the Chef and Owner of Brucie, which is set to close on Valentine&amp;#039;s Day. The three will continue to work together as High Five Girl. Stay tuned! "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.lennyletter.com/life/how-to/a261/valentines-day-your-way/>