Valentine's Day!

Yeah yeah yeah...love blah blah blah...greeting card with hearts and puppies...chocolates...flowers that will die in a few days...what is the big deal? You may ask yourself this question as the cheesiest, corniest, lovesick day ever approaches. But, I have to admit that I love Valentine's Day. This was not always the case because I think one year in college I decided to boycott the day o' love and eat Ben and Jerry's ice cream whilst watching a non-romantic comedy. I was only kidding myself, however, and I just really wanted to send my friends Valentine's in the College Post Office (the C-PO as we called it) and get a few in return for myself.

Anyway, this is a day that we can use as a reminder to spend time with the ones you love, and you don't have to buy roses that cost an arm and a leg. Make a homemade card or a favorite meal for your friends. Valentine's Day isn't just about romance (although I do expect some from my husband), it is about showing love in an extra special way to those who mean the most to you.

This year, we decided to spend the night at home. We went out to a fancy dinner just the other day, trying to avoid the Valentine's Day rush. During that dinner, I looked over at Patrick and reminded him that this was our 7th Valentine's Day that we had spent together. We tried to recall what we had done each year, and to our amazement we remembered every single one of them. The first is difficult to forget. Patrick made me spaghetti with shrimp, and then for dessert we ate chocolate covered strawberries while watching Benny and Joon, one of my favorite movies. This was a big deal because Patrick doesn't cook, but he was willing to get out of his comfort zone and do something special for me. Since then, we have been to some amazing places for dinner, but mostly I have made meatloaf with potatoes and green beans. It has become a Valentine's tradition, and this year is no exception to that rule.

This year I am going to attempt to make a cake from foodandwine.com called toffee almond crunch cake that looks positively amazing. I hope it turns out as good as the one in this picture.

















I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day, and be sure to spread some love!

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