Valentine's Day Love~

I'm a firm believer that loving someone should be shown year-round but I do love Valentine's Day.

I love that the TV shows reruns of my favorite romantic comedies. It always brings me back. I like to reminisce about memories I share with my boyfriend.

It was sappy but I made a playlist on Spotify of romantic songs to listen to while I cooked and baked.

I don't think people automatically think I'm romantic when they meet me but I do believe in everlasting love.

I've never been someone who boys hit on. In the best case, boys treated me like a friend who they joked around with. The worst case was they teased and bullied me. The case in between was they treated me with indifference and ignored me.

It was definitely a learning curve for me during my journey when I noticed the the increase male attention. I wasn't used to it and I normally reply thank you and hurry off. It's a weird feeling of satisfaction when boys who never gave me the time of day now seem to notice my existence.

Their loss :)

That being said, a part of me is a romantic who enjoys watching dramas, reading romantic novels, and crying over sappy Nicholas Sparks movies.

I do believe in happily ever after but it requires hard work getting there. My boyfriend and I celebrated our 7th Valentine's Day together as a couple yesterday. I remember our first Valentine's Day together. There was a major snowstorm in Central PA so classes were canceled: the first time in years. Apparently, the school spends thousands of money year-round invested in man power, snow-shovels and salt but the snow was persistent and heavy so they waited until it stopped to start cleaning up.

I thought it was a good sign that on Valentine's Day 2007, we had no classes and could spend all day together snowbound.

Yesterday, I wanted to make a nice meal for the boys. I had an idea of what I wanted to make but it wasn't until the run that everything was finalized. I like to picture dishes in my head exactly how I want them using what I have on hand and what I can easily pick up.

This is what I came up with.

Valentine's Day Menu

Candied Walnut, Cranberry, Spinach and Romaine Lettuce Salad

Grilled Sirloin Steak with Steamed Green Beans

Seared Salmon over Creamed Spinach

Roasted Potatoes with Parmesan and Parsley

Dessert Menu

Tiramisu Parfait Cups

Chocolate Covered Strawberries

Cheesecake Bars

I couldn't finish my tiramisu so I had a few bites before putting it back in the fridge.

The nice thing about the desserts I made was that it lasts pretty long in the fridge so there's no immediate need to finish it. Cheesecake freezes really well too.

I don't like soggy ladyfingers so I prefer to layer my Tiramisu with chocolate cake soaked in a bit of Kahlua coffee liqueur. I like the cake to be dryer to begin with so it has time to soak in the coffee. Brownies are a great alternative too.

Dusting the top with some cocoa powder was icing on the cake.

My boyfriend helped himself to mostly the savory stuff but he did have a couple bites of Tiramisu. I went light on savory dishes to save room for dessert.

After dinner, I digested with some hot green tea while cozying up to my boyfriend while he watched the Lightning game (sadly we lost...). Thursday nights are Elementary-nights for us where one of our favorite new TV shows is on starring Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu (I totally forgot that before Brangelina....Angelina was briefly married to him..Thank you IMDB!)

The plot lines are somewhat predictable (we can normally guess the killer) but the banter is funny and it is an entertaining show.

Our photographer and third wheel of the night..

.(Well..most nights!)

I prefer to eat at home during major holidays since I hate crowds and inflated restaurant prices. We might try to go somewhere this weekend but that's still up in the air.

Just because it's at home doesn't mean I can't dress up for it! I finished prepping and cooking most of the dishes before doing my hair and make-up. I didn't change until all the cooking was finished though. Little Black Dresses aren't easy to move in nor splatter proof!

How was your Valentine's Day?