Way to go, 30 years! Congrats!

Too early to talk about the big V day? Are you kidding me? I was at the store today and guess what I saw, other than a bunch of Valentines stuff? Easter eggs!

We don't make a big deal out of Valentines. I only do that for little man and his friends. Our traditional is to hand out chocolate, candy, and a little Valentines card to each one of them. I have bought some chocolate hearts and the little cards this morning. Was going to make pink cookies but little man didn't see to be too interested... so probably will just staple a bag of chips to the card and chocolate and call it for the day.

Hope the rest of you have bigger plans than mine! :-)

Al

V-Day is not a really big deal to us, either. I won't go out to a restaurant for V-day, but I usually like to make a nice dinner.

I have some small lobster tails in the freezer, and I think I mught have a couple of small beef filets, too. So I'll probably make a surf-n-turf dinner for the two of us.

I always send a V-day card to each of my kids, too.

Linda

I wish we could make more of a deal of it, but it's not possible with DH's job. Getting home any specific day just isn't guarenteed, and so we don't set ourselves up for disappointment. We used to go out for sushi at our favorite restaurant every year. (Not something I would do here, though.)

I think it's sweet to want to do something special, and not at all too early.

We thought about going out with friends, started talking about where and then all of a sudden... it was decided that dinner would be here. I've got 14 lobsters ordered from the East Coast along with clam chowder. I'm making bread bowls for the clam chowder, salads, vegetables and dessert.

Need ideas for the dessert! Cheesecake might go well....

Nancy

Nothing special here but dh is recently really into mushrooms and is reading A Year in Provence so based on all his mushroom talk, I bought him a bottle of black truffle oil. He'll be thrilled - at least as thrilled as he gets.

You all are making me feel better about my lack of planning.

Except Nancy of course...yikes! You do remind me I have some Maine lobster in the freezer. This might be the right time to thaw and cook it.

I'm crashing Nancy's dinner party!!

Single here so no big deal for me. I do get the kids in my family/group candy or some kind of treat...the office crew too.

Congrats on the thirty years Claire! How about Steak Diane for a special dinner? It was a hit a few years back on the forum.

David

Thank you David and Al! (I want to crash Nancy's party too.)

Since I'm borrowing her idea for the lobster, I should probably go all the way. Steak Diane it is.

Congrats on 30 years! That is awesome!

DH asked me if I wanted to go to a restaurant on Valentine's Day and there isn;t anyting I would less like to do - so.... no. Instead we are going to go out Fri the 12th to see the opening of "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" put on by our local theater company then to one of our favorite restaurants for apres theater snacks. Outside of that, I am just hoping to get the closets done in the BR redo.

That's it! I know what I want for Valentines Day! To sleep in our bedroom instead of on the futon in the kids playroom. LOLOLOL!

Alex

We're hosting a dinner party on Saturday. Sort of a combination Valentines/Chinese New Years potluck. I picked a Mediterranean theme, so I'm searing a salmon. Mediterranean salmon???? Well, I'm putting a lot of garlic and rosemary on it....

We usually go out with the kids, but this year my DHs parents will be visiting, and since it's on a weekend I thought it might be fun to have the kids help with a Valentine-themed dinner with lots of reds and pinks...... any ideas?

This will be an extra special Valentine's Day because it is the same day as Chinese New Year and is followed by Presidents' Day on February 15 and Mardi Gras on the 16th, which is also my friend Paul's birthday. Paul was supposed to have a party (We went to his condo for Thanksgiving), but I haven't been able to get him a set a date. My birthday is one week after Paul's, and so I was thinking of having something on the week-end of the 20th.

I might make candy for Valentine's Day, but I probably should have already made it! The question should have been, Is it too late to get everything ready?

Lars

Lars, I still think you have lots of time to get things ready for Valentine's Day/Mardi Gras/President's Day/Chinese New Year/Paul's Birthday. I just don't know what you should make!

Congratulations, Claire, on 30 years, that's an accomplishment in itself.

Blueiris, you could make everything heart shaped, like meatloaf or something. I tend to only thing desserts when I think of Valentine's Day.

I've never "celebrated" Valentine's Day, so I probably won't start now, although I bought Elery a lovely black zip front Carhartt sweatshirt from Tractor Supply on clearance, LOL.

This year, though, I'll make an exception, I'll go to Nancy's! (grin) Stop and pick me up on the way through, will you David?

Annie

If everyone is coming here, I'd better order more lobsters!

I'm going to Nancy's too. It will be tough, cause we're having a blizzard and it just started, but I'll try to make it! I hope to think of something that I can make to bring that will travel well :)

Nothing real special or traditional for us - but we do love to have a great meal (and I like to spruce up the table with hearts and lots of red and pink) and we always stay home.

Nothing to do with Valentine's Day but speaking of anniversaries - it happens to be my parents 65th Wedding Anniversary tomorrow (2/10/45)- wish I could go up to bring them a special meal, but the storm won't allow that - guess they've figured out by now how to enjoy each other's company. My Dad left to go overseas soon after the wedding and the food for the reception after the ceremony was taken care of by the ration stamps that all the family and friends had saved and donated to my grandmother for the meat to feed the group.

No problem Annie....but you still owe me a "topless" ride in that Jeep of yours. LOL

Order more Lobster Nancy!

Woodie, congrats to your parents!!! Wow, 65 years is too cool! I hope you, Ken, your parents, and all y'all make through yet another killer storm. So much for global warming....LOL!

David

Woodie, I second the congratulations to your parents! (I thought 30 years seemed like a long time, even though it was only yesterday.) I love the story of the ration stamps.

Thank you Annie and Alexa! Annie, I think a sweatshirt from Tractor Supply sounds great, especially on clearance. I know for a fact it's a good place to shop.

Lars, I'll look forward to hearing what you pull off. I'm certain it will be a treat.

Nancy, I'm crashing too. Shall I turn my lobster into a pot pie or bisque and bring it along as a side dish?

...and pushed the ''submit'' button too soon!

I made an Orange Layer Cake as an early Valentine's Day treat. I posted about it in the New Recipes Review - February 2010, along with the recipe. It's good!

We haven't done anything special for V-day since we were dating. We're going to hit 25 years this year, but not until September.

Congrats on 30 years!

I decided to make beef bourguignon. Last time I made it I just used stew beef and I think it was a bit too lean and the pieces too small and they dried out a bit. This time I bought a whole roast with more marbling, but still a "stewing" or pot roast type, so I can cut it up myself and make the pieces much larger so they don't dry out. I'm making it more because Monday's a holiday, so hubby's brother can come over and hang out, than it being V-day. He never married and since my MIL, who he cared for the last years of her life, died, he lives alone and we like to have him over on weekends whenever we can. I might make a special dessert, but I'll have to see how it goes.

Lisa

Congrats Claire we will be celebrating 30 years this coming December.

About the only thing I do for ValentineÂs Day is cook! Valentines Day is my dadÂs birthday, 89 this year, itÂs our townÂs annual Whiskey Flats Days celebration so everyone comes to our house. We have had upward of 50,000 people show up in town for the 4 day celebration. Parking is impossible we live almost in town and can squeeze about 10 cars up the driveway so anyone we have ever known stops by to see if we have room for another car. We always have a good time I always have a big pot of chili going for anyone who happens to be here and will have a cake for dadÂs birthday.

Claudia

Here is a link that might be useful: Whiskey Flats Day's

I forgot to say congratulations! What a good example you are to so many young people.

Thanks for your congratulations, Bumblebeez, Claudia and Lisa!

Bumblebeeze, I am? I don't feel like any kind of good example! I'm one of those people that don't think marriage is hard, but then it probably depends on the person you pick.

Claudia, is your wedding anniversary in December? Because so is mine. What day?

...Happy Birthday Claudia, to your Dad on his 89th birthday!

Claire,

ItÂs a funny story after I got rid of the ex I decides I didnÂt need a man to take care of me I was just going to play with them. My now DH was one of my best friends he was single when I was married then I was single when he was married. We never really dated but we did live together, well us and 3 other guys, I always said if I ever got married again it would be on December 26 because thatÂs when my parents got married and they were the only couple I knew that never even had an argument. He kept asking me to marry him and I kept saying no. This went on for about 3 years he didnÂt like any of my boyfriends and I called all the women he dated saloon trash. Long story short he arranged for a minister to come to our house the day after Christmas and dared me to say no again I shocked him and said yes. I always knew I would marry him someday. We have rules and even almost 30 years later we have never had an argument or broken any of the rules. When we lived with the guys they placed bets on when we would have our first fight we made it a point to win the bets and it just stuck. My parents were married 66 years when my mother passed away I hope we make it that long.

Claudia

Claudia, What a great story! I hope you make it that long too. I think that would be anyone's wish who still liked their spouse. It sounds like you had great role models and a lot of incentive to win your bet.

Our anniversary is December 20. We got married at our old farmhouse, and the water froze that day. The whole system was rather antiquated, and our water was pumped up to the house with a tractor into a cistern. Actually, it was the tractor that froze, not the water. You know, washing my hair was an adventure. The pastor asked if I promised to ''love, honor and obey'' and I said, ''OBEY!!! I'm not promising to OBEY.'' He told me he wouldn't marry us unless I did, so I told him I'd say it, while I crossed my fingers and offered a ''You know what I mean!'' Good Grief. It was after all, 1980! We were standing next to our new wood stove that had hedge wood in it and it was HOT. We were still figuring out how much wood we needed to load it with, so we were sweating. Profusely. I kept asking everyone to back away from the stove. Meanwhile, in the kitchen, you could almost see your breath, it was so cold. My cake was quite FIRM, and hard to cut. Those were the days. I will say, I'm glad we've moved on from there!

I've made some pasta and cut it into heart shapes. I'll serve it as an open ravioli with ricotta and spinach starter. Main course will be salmon and leek pyllo parcels with, of course, a heart shaped parcel. Dessert is Baci di dama - ladies kisses! That better melt his heart!!

Claudia, Happy Birthday to your Dad, give him a big birthday hug from me.

That's a nice story about your DH, although I really laughed at Claire's tractor/woodstove/cistern wedding. (grin)

I was married for 30 years to my ex and I worked harder to stay married than any person I knew. When he moved out and moved in with his girlfriend, I quit trying and filed for divorce. I wasn't interested in men or dating for quite a while, then I met Elery. We've been married nearly two years and it's been pretty easy, but we don't live together. I figure that way we can stay married forever, LOL.

As for Valentine's Day, Elery will be working and be 3 hours away, so he thought he'd make a nice dinner last night. He did, we had steak and shrimp, he even made lemon bars because I love them. Ashley showed up with her boyfriend and another friend at 4:30 and didn't leave until 11 pm, opting to watch a NetFlix instant download movie on my computer, which pretty much screwed up all plans of a quiet evening and a nice dinner together.

So much for Valentine's Day!

Annie

Congratulations claire, what a great day to have your anny. on!
We always remember each other on V-day. Cards, candy, flowers the whole bit. Sometimes we go out to a nice restaurant, sometimes it is a nice dinner at home. We give cards and candy to our daughters too. This year it is a nice family dinner at home.
Bacon wrapped filets, twice baked potatoes, Caesar salad, and heart shaped double chocolate cake for dessert. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! NancyLouise

Annie,

Sorry about youÂre screwed up evening sometimes the best laid plans just donÂt work out. I will give my dad a big hug for you I know how much you miss your dad and I know how lucky I am to still have mine even though he can be the most demanding cranky old goat I have ever known at times. I love him a lot even if he drives me crazy most of the time.

Claudia

Great wedding & marriage stories! Thanks to all of you and congratulations!