My hubby would prolly looooove to trade places with your hubby. I love to cook too..but mostly only in the summer. During the "school year" I work as a school cook ( I know, I know, glamerous:) and I cook for 600 each day so when I come home after standing on my feet each day, cooking is the LAST thing I want to do..or smell food for that matter. I do cook in the summer tho when I have more time and energy.

No plans here..my hubby was watching TV last night and a commercial was on advetising Valentine Day flowers and he said "That is so not me! I am the day after Valentine Guy." Every year since we have been married I have gotten nothing on Valentine Day but the day after, I get a 50 percent off box of Candy! :) And he is thrilled he got it for such a bargin..I might even get two because they are such a bargin (Of course, one is for him too ) And on years he is really into Valentines Day I might get another box when they go 75 percent off! :) I will have to admit tho, last year he got the half of box of Candy but he actually sent me flowers on the big day from Proflowers.com I about fell over when I came home from work and found them. Now, before we got married, I got flowers everytime he sneezed bless his heart... :) Nope, no plans for Valentine Day but the day after you will prolly find me munchies on Chocolates :)

Your a romantic, Flower. Your husband is a lucky man to have you. Please do take pictures :-)

We celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary on Valentines. DH forgot and made dinner plans with a client *lol*.

We always have a special meal here at home too as we never like anything we get at a restaurant unless DS1 and DIL make it!! The last few years since they have had the restaurant we have both worked so that is what we will be doing again this year. We will have our special meal this coming weekend as we just had our week long anniversary celebration. February is a big month for us . Haven't planned it yet but there will be seafood and chocolate. I'll take pics too. c

FlowerLady, your special meal and sweets sound divine! Enjoy!!!

Keesha, I got a kick out of your chocolates on sale. Sounds very sensible and yummy too!!!

Edna, Happy 5th to you and DH. He's a lucky man to have a such a beautiful,intelligent, talented wife and one with a great sense of humor! You're a gem, truly!

Caroline, you can't go wrong with seafood and chocolate!!!
I'll be looking for your dinner photos.

As for me, my valentine plan (if the weather isn't too horrendous)is to visit the Bloodmobile and then to go out to lunch with friends. Then I'm going to go home, plunk down in my comfy chair with a good book, and snuggle with the cat.

Patti

Keesha ~ I think cooking for 600 kids everyday might put a crimp in wanting to cook a nice meal when you get home each night. ~ Day after bargains are great! Why pay full price when you can pay half? There were a couple of years many years ago, when we celebrated Christmas after the day and got free trees or paid a $1.00 maybe once because the trees were just going to be trashed from the sellers. DH and I are SO NOT into buying stuff because retailers dictate that it is the thing to do. How neat that your DH surprised you with flowers on the day last year and chocolates the day after. Enjoy the day whatever it brings your way.

Edna ~ Congratulations on your anniversary. May your day be filled with lots of love and happiness. I agree with Patti about your DH being lucky to have you for the reasons she mentioned. You are a sweetheart.

Caroline ~ Have a lovely Valentine's celebration this weekend adding to the wonderful festivities you've been enjoying all month. I will love seeing pictures of your dinner celebration too.

Patti ~ Plunking down in a chair with a good book and snuggling with your cat sounds like a very nice idea, especially if the weather is horrible. Staying home where it is cozy is always a winner in my book.

I am really thrilled with the way the truffles and the chocolate covered cherries turned out. I took pictures this morning. I did up 24 for DH, of course I'll get some of these too, plus there are a few in the freezer for later. I also did up a box for my friends next door to where I work. Will give it to them at the end of the day tomorrow.

I took a nice bottle of Spanish white wine out of our stash to chill for tomorrow's dinner.

Have a wonderful day whatever you do.

FlowerLady

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I had a photo challenge last weekend that was strawberries and chocolate. So this is what I came up with. I bought the chocolate froggie, and some chocolate to make the chocolate strawberries....but then a friend suggested making lily pads and using the strawberries as flowers. I made up a slideshow with many of the photos. MMMM and the chocolate was good too. ;))

I like the idea of curling up with a good book and snuggling with my cats. As I type this, one of them is spralled across me sleeping away and it is difficult to type. LOL!

Sierra

Love it Sierra. Strawberries are one of my favorite things, and dipped in chocolate. Yummy! Cats do have a way of laying right on top of things don't they? Have a lovely Valentine's day.

FlowerLady

FlowerLady - I, for one, was stunned to read your post, and I think it was very brave of you to publicly admit what you do on Valentine's Day. I didn't know that there were women who not only cooked special dinners for their spouses on Valentine's day, but apparently love to do it, and even go the extra mile to make delectable candies as well. You don't even want to go out to dinner! My goodness.

Somehow, through the years I have been indoctrinated into the opposite school of thought, believing that it was my duty and privilege to see that my dear mate was carded, flowered, gifted, and dined every V-day, or at a minimum, two of the four. Now I find that there may have been other possibilities.

I can't imagine that other women are going to be happy to hear about your spilling the beans on this issue, and I hope that your GW anonymity is enough to protect you from the hate mail and possible letter-bombs likely to follow your admission. Maybe you shouldn't read your emails for the next few days. It's probably a good thing that this forum is only sparsely populated by males with DWs, because I know what my wife is going to find a copy of on her pillow tonight. It's too late for this year, since the reservation is already made, but next year...

I remain humbly in awe,
ThinMan

TMan ~ Your post had me laughing outloud and tears filled my eyes. I can't wait for DH to read your response, he will get a kick out of it, but I don't want to spoil the 'delectable candies' surprise, so I'll show it to him tomorrow.

I know I'm not 'normal', but what the heck. I hope I don't get any 'hate mail', but now that you mention it there are probably some that are not going to like my post. Oh well, I'm doing what I do for my sweetie with love, I wasn't thinking of offending anyone or drawing down hate mail. Yikes! I was innocently posting and asking what others do for the day's celebration.

Thanks again for the laugh.

FlowerLady

Thinman, you're a hoot, I was ROTFL at your post. Other possibilities, indeed! :-)

Flowerlady, you're a sweetie, but then we all knew that already :-) Your dinner plans sound marvelous and I for one do not find them strange at all. I will happily cook a special meal just for DH and I, set the table with candles, etc. if the occasion so justifies. Unfortunately tomorrow there won't be any such thing :-( We are both working, and long hours do we work, so no time to fix a nice meal at home. We may end up going somewhere for dinner after work. I have to say, Valentine's is hardly celebrated at all here (other than the lingerie shops trying to boost their sales), so the social pressure is not that big.

I think it's a lovely celebration though. A couple of years ago I decorated my porch for Valentine's, much to the amazement of neighbors ;-) DH,on the other hand, only noticed it when I specifically pointed it out to him. Edna, our DHs seem to be on the same league, LOL...

Happy Valentine's, everyone!
Eduarda

We never made a big deal about Valentine'a day nor our anniversary. He was usually not home on those days. The first year we were together I sent him roses. He was building a store at Powell & Market in San Francisco. He almost fainted when they were delivered. He really thought there was a mistake. His first wife never did things for him. One year he bought me a crystal heart.
As long as his memory was good he always referred to me as his bride (about 23 years).
I gave him a surprise birthaday party on his 49th. It turned out that was the first birthday party he had ever had. My "gift" to him was a hard hat. I stenciled "Super Jew" on it. He really got a hoot out of that. I have a picture of him wearing it while building the first house he built for us.
His 80+ years old Mother always sent each of us a check on our birthdays. He always told me to take his check and spend it on myself.
When he was to select commemorative jewerly for his 25 years with Walgreen's, he selected two diamond pendants for me.

I enjoyed using my silver flatware on a daily basis. One Christmas he bought me stainless flatware. He said, I should save the silver for special occasions. I never told him other wise and put the silver away and began using the stainless.
When he went the nursing home a counselor asked him what he was proud of, meaning his accomplishments. He looked at me and said, "my bride". It gets no better than that.

My favorite picture of us.

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Cousin Kathy ~ Your sweet story really touched my heart. I love that picture of the two of you. You are a jewel and he knew it. He was a great guy and you knew it. May your day be filled with lots more loving memories of your life together.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Flower your meal sounds scrumptious ENJOY!

Oh Kathy what a lovely picture of the two of you and such a touching story. I count myself as one of the lucky ones too, I was lucky enough to find the right guy for me.

TM, although it might not be as fancy as Flower's I'm making a turkey pot pie with a flakey crust, to be served with fresh asparagus and a rice pilaf. Candles, maybe, maybe not we'll see. I can remember one time when I prepared a candlelit dinner, his response at the time was... how come it's so dark in here, I can't see what I'm eating... I had to tune him up, just a wee bit LOL. A bottle of wine... definitely, soft music in the background yes, that is if one of us can remember to turn it on. Dessert is still in the planning stages, maybe some kind of fruit with zabaione sauce.

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone.

Annette

Thank you Kathy for sharing such a special story. I am proud to know you . c

Edna, happy fifth anniversary. I hope you're able to celebrate in some way with your husband.

Kathy, I know how close you were with your husband. You two just adored each other. Your story was so touching. Thank you for sharing it with us.

Mike and I don't celebrate Valentine's day, like most of these Hallmark holidays. We like to tell each other every day how much we love one-another. We try to do little things to show it, too. Love notes, emails, etc. So we skip over this holiday. Although, we do exchange cards, not sure why. I spent the week making him a card collage about us. It was fun and he really loved it. (You can see it here)

Tonight, to "celebrate" he's taking me to buy a shelf. That's romance, huh??

I hope you are all able to spend time today, tomorrow, and every day with those you love.

Tracy

Thank you all. I just wanted to share my thoughts with you.
We lived in that house just a couple years, so that picture was probably taken in 1981.
Tell your loved ones often how much you love them. The years go so very fast.

Dear cousin Edna.... what a sneaky way to always have a special valentine's day. Happy anniversay to y'all.

Tracy...how cool!

I am off to have dinner with my oldest son and DIL.

We don't normally do that much for V-day either, however, like Flowerlady, we think of it as an equal "couples" day. We didn't used to. At first DH did nothing, after all, he was brought up with two boys in the family and his mother was in charge of all Valentines!
I got a great card which was very funny, and an Endangered Species chocolate bar as a treat although it did nothing but give me a massive headache! It's been so long since I ate chocolate! DH got this great vintage cardboard standup I found, with a 60's Beatles-type band and a go-go girl. When I get the display cabinet for the kitchen, it will go in there with the rest of our go-go figurines and things (and of course some kitchen stuff!!).
However, Saturday we are going out for a combined Valentines/Birthday (ours and theirs) with a couple of friends to Trader Vics. "Polynesian" food and tiki drinks! How fun!!

GGG

This certainly has been an interesting thread...

I must say that I am with Flowerlady and Trailrunner...I love to cook a nice meal, one that will be appreciated by us both. Much better than what one can get going out, not to mention the swarms of people, traffic, pouring rain, etc.

This morning, my DH called me from work to wish me a HVD. He is carpooling and doesn't get home til late (he works 10 hour days plus 2 hr. roundtrip traveltime). I promptly stopped procrastinating and got myself to the store---a little gourmet-ish market very near to the house. I picked up a couple of 8-oz. filet mignon steaks, fresh baby bella mushrooms, organic strawberries, whipping cream, etc.

This is what DH and I prepared and dined on (with red roses and by candlelight!) this Valentine's Eve:
Ready-Pac Parisian Salad
Filet Mignon with Roquefort and Red Wine Cognac Sauce
Baby Bella Mushrooms
Baked Potatoes with Cream Cheese Horseradish and Herbs
Petite Choux with Butter and Nutmeg (Petite Brussels Sprouts)
Strawberries with Amaretto Chantilly Cream

Happy Valentine's Day indeed!!!

Becky

We didn't want to go out to a restaurant either. DH and I cooked together for Valentine's last night. We kept it super simple so that the kitchen wasn't a mess nor were we stressed. DH grilled filet mignons while I made the mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. We skipped the bread since we already had carbs in the meal. Chianti Classico and San Pellegrino to drink. We had tiramisu and cappucino for dessert. DH brought me a pretty vase of tulips.

To make it special, here's what we did:

Turned our garden room into a private dining room.

Moved the coffee table (bench) to the side. Got the card table out of the attic and draped it to the floor in a nice table cloth. Set it nicely and added the tulips. Added two chairs and voila!

Turned on the fireplace (and the water fall is lighted and is outside the windows). We don't burn candles because we have two birds in the house. We used a low light lamp.

Closed the pocket French door so that our greyhound couldn't bother us.

It was the best Valentine's dinner we've ever had! The food was delicious. The ambiance was perfect.

By creating a unique dining room, it seemed so special and romantic. After we were almost finished, I told DH that I should have taken photos of the table, food and room. He said he was going to suggest it, but then decided this was "just for us".

Cameron

I am just home now with DH. We have set record numbers at the YellowHammer and so we have had no time. I am working again tomorrow. We had to push folks to Fri and Sat as we had 100 on Thurs night ! So DH and I are already planning , over a good Chianti, how we are going to celebrate on Sunday. Will let you know if we have any energy left for cooking. c