The Color of Love

If you are ever in doubt as to what holiday is approaching, just enter a card shop; the certainty of the holiday will grab you visually.

I recently shopped for a birthday card, and masses of pink and red cards assaulted me as soon as I entered the card shop. I spent an hour looking at cards, and finally left the store with an armful of assorted Valentine’s Day cards, forgetting the birthday card I originally came into the store for.

If anything, Valentine’s Day gives one a chance to present true gifts of the heart to those you care about, whether they be husbands or wives, lovers, friends, parents or children.

Our gifts to one another can be most original or funny, but I personally prefer the traditional and classic gifts of flowers and candy. I would be so bold as to say I would take a gift of flowers or candy over a tiny box of jewelry. Jewelry I can buy for myself, but flowers and candy must come from an admirer.

Lovers in 19th century Europe often used the language of flowers to convey secret messages. Which is why the rose became a standard form of expression on Valentine’s Day or at any time you wished to show how much you felt about a loved one.

The manner in which one sent a rose to another said much more than words ever could:
A rosebud stripped of its thorns meant “No one suspects us; we can meet tonight.”
A rosebud stripped of its leaves meant, “We’re in danger of being discovered.”
To send a rose with a bloom over two blooms meant, “We must be secret!”
To receive a bud of a red rose, you were told that you were lovely.
To send a red rose was to convey passion.
A white rose symbolizes purity.
A yellow rose symbolizes infidelity.
And a delicate pink rose said, “Our love is perfect happiness.”

In Victorian times, lovers took the expression one step further by answering the gift of flowers with a response of flowers. If a man sent a woman a red rose, he revealed his love of course, but if she replied with a white rose, she felt she was too young for such emotions. The return of a yellow rose meant she thought him too fickle, and a single rose leaf indicated she wasn’t interested at all. But if she returned another red rose, then Cupid’s arrow had hit its mark.

Rosewater Pound Cake
You can find rosewater (which comes in little amber-colored bottles) in specialty grocery stores. Orange water can be substituted. However orange water is also found in specialty grocery stores. Both are used in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cooking. They’re sweet and very aromatic.
1 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
5 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 ounces (about 1/4-cup) finely chopped almonds
1 teaspoon rosewater
2 drops red food coloring
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease one 9-inch tube pan.

Cream butter well. In a separate bowl, beat sugar and egg together until doubled in volume. Whisk flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Add sifted flour gradually to batter, mixing after each addition. Fold in creamed butter thoroughly.

Divide batter into two equal parts. Into one part, add the almond extract and the ground almonds. To the other part, add the rosewater and the red food coloring. Spoon batters alternately into the prepared tube pan.

Bake at 350° for 50 to 60 minutes. Let cake cool, remove pan and dust with confectioners’ sugar.