dinner with my valentine

I think the only Valentine I can remember in the five years since I’ve been dating my boyfriend is the first, and that’s because it was basically our third date as boyfriend/girlfriend. Gone are the days of pink and red sweetheart candies, those delicious red Mickey Mouse heart pops (not even sure they make these anymore) and baskets full of quirky little cartoon Valentine’s day cards, and this basically because of work and pesky everyday interruptions that come with being working adults.

February is a difficult work month for my boyfriend, so I decided to take Valentine’s Day into my own hands and create a festive party right in the comfort of our own living room.

I decorated the table with some fun accents I downloaded from elleadore.com. I found these by chance the day before Valentine’s Day in an online ad. The kit was quite elaborate, but for this setting, I only used the printed menus, place cards and napkin rings.

As coasters, I used extra cut out hearts from a garland I put up behind our sofa. I also scattered some of these left over hearts on our coffee table where we had our appetizer and a drink.

I chose this ultimate cordon bleu recipe by Tyler Florence and substituted Brussels sprouts with cheesy mashed potatoes.

My baking experiences are usually hit or miss. This pink mascarpone frosting was definitely a hit - not too sweet and perfectly firm!

I don’t think Valentine’s Day should be about the cliché heart chocolates or cheesy teddy bears, I never have. To me, it should be about doing something with the person you love, in our case, taking time out of our busy schedules and having a proper dinner together – at home, no interruptions.