“It’s absolutely a beautiful day out there right now.” That’s what the New York City school chancellor said to parents and school staff about the weather conditions late yesterday morning at a press conference.

The storm was at the peak of the heaviest snowfall when the early morning commute should be in full swing. Yet schools were open. Maybe it had stopped snowing by the time the chancellor spoke.

But, it certainly wasn’t a beautiful day. The students who braved the elements, and the teachers and staff who were forced to make the icy trip, had already been in virtually empty schools for hours when the chancellor declared it a “beautiful day.”

She made that statement on television just as the dog barked to be let out the back door.

It was frozen shut, with a huge snow drift, that had blown up the front of the door. The freezing rain started to pelt the windows.

The guys weren’t happy about their perfect attendance records being shattered. We stayed home and made chocolate truffles for Valentine’s Day.

In the past week, we’ve had light, fluffy snow and wet, heavy snow. Frozen walls of snow. The snow and ice have been an ongoing theme. That groundhog said we were getting six more weeks of winter – and he meant it.

We had the ingredients to make our chocolate truffles. Chocolate truffles are the kind of dessert that sounds intimidating if you’ve never tried to make them.

They’re super-simple to make and you can vary the ingredients so many ways. Roll them in cocoa, or powdered sugar, or chopped hazelnuts. Follow this basic recipe found below.

http://parade.condenast.com/244144/aliceknisleymatthias-2/no-bake-holiday-treats-chocolate-truffles/

We used some of our homemade hot chocolate mix. You can substitute the cocoa powder for a pre-packaged cocoa mix.

Last night, we made our Valentine’s Day cards for the second grade class. As we went down the list of the 32 students in the second grade my little guy told me, “You make the best cards.”  Nice to know when you’re appreciated.

If you really want to shake things up for your valentine, check out my post in the Food section at Parade this week. Isn’t there always a couple that makes you wonder how they ever got together? This is the dessert form of that question.

http://parade.condenast.com/262028/aliceknisleymatthias-2/my-funny-valentine-chocolate-and-bacon/

Happy Valentine’s Day!