Pork Chops with Cherries

So yesterday my beloved Ivan spent all day on the phone and computer booking a trip to South America!!!! Woooo Hoooo!!! We have been hoping/planning on doing this trip for some time...but due to a variety of circumstances we kept holding off...now it is all becoming a reality!!!

I didn't help him with this task one little bit...except for to silently cheer him on and feel grateful that he is the "expert planner" in the relationship! I did the part that I am good at...and put a bottle of champagne in the fridge to chill...as I felt a celebration would be in order that evening.

I wanted to also make a nice dinner to enjoy the occasion as well...but we didn't have much time because we went for massages after work. So I flipped through my 30 minute meals by Rachel Ray and went to the "date night" section. This is a good book for last minute stuff...so I found a recipe that sounded awesome.

Pork chops with a cherry, brandy sauce with zucchini and toasted walnuts. Unfortunately I don't think it was that good. The flavours were bland for some reason. My cherry sauce was supposed to ignite in the pan when I added the brandy...but it didn't. Perhaps that would have changed the flavour. Was my heat not high enough? Did I not use the right pan? Please tell me how to ignite flame...this is a skill I still do not know!

My bob's red mill gluten/wheat free pancakes turned out exceptional this morning however! I added buttermilk vs. rice milk because I had some left over. I have been avoiding dairy for the past 1.5 months....but I didn't feel too badly afterwards...and it was worth it because the pancakes were big and fluffy. Who knows what tomorrow will bring....now its time for me to snuggle up in a blanky, watch a flick and Enjoy!