Valentine's Day - gifts? Plans?

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Thank you @Daisys and Diamonds, we are so glad and grateful too. You have a heart of gold and deserve one from your sweetheart made of solid gold

.....
......Well actually


when im working again id lile him to buy me this
The only thing is we don't have a branch of this particular mall jewler in our town and return policies in this country are often not allowed just because you change your mind and i know some rose quartz is way too pale

 

[mrs-b]

We started the day by giving Ben and Jerry's doggie ice cream to our dogs:

Then we did cards (my favorite thing).

He bought me flowers:




We exchanged gifts in lieu of going out to dinner:





This afternoon, I had a little sidewalk date with Murphy - my neighbor's dog, who I adore! I gave him a hand made card and his very own doggie ice cream - wrapped up with a big red bow!




Then this afternoon, I made my DH his favorite dinner (shepherd's pie with vegetables), followed by hot ginger muffins with vanilla ice cream, which we ate while watching Grease - one of his favorite movies, oddly....



All up, it was a lovely day!

<3

 

[Natylad]

We started the day by giving Ben and Jerry's doggie ice cream to our dogs:

Then we did cards (my favorite thing).

He bought me flowers:




We exchanged gifts in lieu of going out to dinner:





This afternoon, I had a little sidewalk date with Murphy - my neighbor's dog, who I adore! I gave him a hand made card and his very own doggie ice cream - wrapped up with a big red bow!




Then this afternoon, I made my DH his favorite dinner (shepherd's pie with vegetables), followed by hot ginger muffins with vanilla ice cream, which we ate while watching Grease - one of his favorite movies, oddly....



All up, it was a lovely day!

<3

All this made me very very happy and most of all your smiling face @mrs-b !!!

 

[Polabowla]

Dh surprised me with red roses, heart balloons & baked me a chocolate heart shaped cake with chocolate butterceam frosting! He almost never bakes & it was pretty complicated recipes. It was sooo delicious & I was so happy!
I hand crafted dh a card with red & gold velvet roses on vellum.
It was a lovely day

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

We don't really do Valentines exactly but we do use it as an excuse to get the best chocolate! There's a lovely lady who lives near my town that happens to be a master chocolatier and several times a year we get some of her fabulous small batch handmade truffles/caramels. They come with these little description cards which the kids love to read and find out what kind they want to try. She sells them out of a little house she bought and turned into a dedicated shop, you either order online or (since COVID) you come by to pick your variety with just one customer/group in the shop at a time. It all feels very appointment only which made DH feel very fancy. It's one of our very favorite special treats. Impossible to resist!

 

[Austina]

We haven’t done Valentine’s Day for donkey’s years, but DH surprised me yesterday with a lovely bouquet of roses and lilies.

 

[Bluemuse]

We don't really do Valentines exactly but we do use it as an excuse to get the best chocolate! There's a lovely lady who lives near my town that happens to be a master chocolatier and several times a year we get some of her fabulous small batch handmade truffles/caramels. They come with these little description cards which the kids love to read and find out what kind they want to try. She sells them out of a little house she bought and turned into a dedicated shop, you either order online or (since COVID) you come by to pick your variety with just one customer/group in the shop at a time. It all feels very appointment only which made DH feel very fancy. It's one of our very favorite special treats. Impossible to resist!

Those look amazing, @ItsMainelyYou !!
I’d be right there in line if I lived anywhere near you! Handmade chocolates and ice cream are a weakness.

 

[Arcadian]

We do exactly nothing. this year I started sewing his third shirt (it was supposed to be for christmas but...... "

 

[mrs-b]

All this made me very very happy and most of all your smiling face @mrs-b !!!

Thank you, @Natylad!

 

[GoldenTouch]

Duck is my favourite meat, and I usually have roast duck on Christmas Day. However, last year, I decided to splash out and had a goose instead - big mistake, huge!

My campervan has been further delayed due to parts not coming through from Germany in a timely manner.

She was supposed to be finished in October 2020, so a few more weeks will fly past in no time - the wait is nearly over.

I shall camp in the van parked outside my house, so that I can get used to her first before I take her out further afield, electricity and water supply at the ready.

I have been in touch with the company carrying out the conversion, and she is looking very nice, especially the kitchen. I would say that, as it is nearly entirely my own design, my mini home from home!

DK

I hope you show us some pictures. It sounds exciting!

 

[mrs-b]

I hope you show us some pictures. It sounds exciting!

@GoldenTouch - take a look at this thread. It's photos of @dk168 's monster cook-a-thon!

4-day Cookathon

I would normally go out to have a couple of nice meals to celebrate my birthday and Chinese New Year. However, thanks to Covid-19, all the restaurants are closed. My birthday this year is very close to CNY which is on 12 Feb this year, and with Valentine's Day on 14 Feb, I shall have a cookathon...

www.pricescope.com

 

[Polabowla]

@Austina that kitchen nook looks so cozy & peaceful

 

[dk168]

Thanks @mrs-b!

DK

 

[GoldenTouch]

@GoldenTouch - take a look at this thread. It's photos of @dk168 's monster cook-a-thon!

4-day Cookathon

I would normally go out to have a couple of nice meals to celebrate my birthday and Chinese New Year. However, thanks to Covid-19, all the restaurants are closed. My birthday this year is very close to CNY which is on 12 Feb this year, and with Valentine's Day on 14 Feb, I shall have a cookathon...

www.pricescope.com

Thank you for the link. I would like to see the camper & kitchen

 

[baublelove]

So it's 8 days till Valentine's Day - what do you have planned?

We were hoping to go out to dinner, but it's just not feeling safe enough to dine inside at restaurants here in Boston, so that's been scrubbed.

On the other hand, we have KILLER romantic gifts for each other....

We're exchanging Smeg small kitchen appliances! Wooo HOOOO! DH is giving me a KETTLE and I'm giving him a TOASTER!!



Hmmmm.


Ok, so I'm kidding about the romantic part - we've been married for 36 years now and we're shooting for coffee and toast rather than romance at this point in our lives. And the older I get, the more willing I am to trade a good cup of coffee for any romantic gestures. Actually, making me a cup of coffee probably IS my favorite romantic gesture!

So how about you? What do you have planned? Flowers? Evening out? Jewelry?? And what are you giving your SO next Sunday? Share with us here!

So it's 8 days till Valentine's Day - what do you have planned?

We were hoping to go out to dinner, but it's just not feeling safe enough to dine inside at restaurants here in Boston, so that's been scrubbed.

On the other hand, we have KILLER romantic gifts for each other....

We're exchanging Smeg small kitchen appliances! Wooo HOOOO! DH is giving me a KETTLE and I'm giving him a TOASTER!!



Hmmmm.


Ok, so I'm kidding about the romantic part - we've been married for 36 years now and we're shooting for coffee and toast rather than romance at this point in our lives. And the older I get, the more willing I am to trade a good cup of coffee for any romantic gestures. Actually, making me a cup of coffee probably IS my favorite romantic gesture!

So how about you? What do you have planned? Flowers? Evening out? Jewelry?? And what are you giving your SO next Sunday? Share with us here!

Love the appliances and this blue hue!

We are married 27 years and are still very romantic with each other but are not big Valentine’s Day gift givers. For us it’s a Hallmark holiday. We made Anne Burrell’s shepherds pie recipe, had it with a Dave Phinney Location E red, and leftover homemade birthday cake (hubby recently turned 53). But this is a regular weekend dinner for us as we’re empty nesters, love to cook, and dine mostly at home because of Covid.

No exchanging gifts for us as we buy what we want. Hubs just got a 3rd snare drum and a double bass pedal for his Gretsch drum kit, and I added a pair of Freebird shoes to my collection.

My 53rd b’day is this Thursday. Normally we celebrate our combined b’days and V’Day with a long weekend getaway out of state.

This year it’s a 3 day staycation at The Omni Amelia Island (FL). They have multiple outdoor dining choices. We’ve also scheduled a 3 hour bike tour in the Avondale historic homes area by the St Johns River this Friday.

 

[mrs-b]

Thank you for the link. I would like to see the camper & kitchen

Me too - definitely! I have dreams of having a restored vintage caravan and going on little vacations, but a voice deep in my soul says I'd hate it as soon as the novelty wore off (20-30 minutes!).

So I want to live vicariously through @dk168!

 

[dk168]

The campervan should be ready by the end of Feb 2021, can't wait, and I shall post more photos later.

DK

 

[Austina]

Thank you @Polabowla, I’ve didn’t notice when I took the photo, that Henry my vacuum is peaking out from under the breakfast table

 

[baublelove]

I may have a roast duck instead of a Tomahawk steak, as I don't make a roast very often.

Still deciding!

I would have been gone camping from 10 Feb until 15 Feb 2021, however, thanks to Brexit as well as Covid-19, my van is further delayed until the end of Feb 2021, and the campsites are closed.

DK

Yum! I ordered a crispy Peking duck from Tao NYC through Goldbelly.com for my b’day this Thursday

Sorry about your van delay and the campsites.

 

[AnastasiaBeaverhausen]

We started the day by giving Ben and Jerry's doggie ice cream to our dogs:

Then we did cards (my favorite thing).

He bought me flowers:




We exchanged gifts in lieu of going out to dinner:





This afternoon, I had a little sidewalk date with Murphy - my neighbor's dog, who I adore! I gave him a hand made card and his very own doggie ice cream - wrapped up with a big red bow!




Then this afternoon, I made my DH his favorite dinner (shepherd's pie with vegetables), followed by hot ginger muffins with vanilla ice cream, which we ate while watching Grease - one of his favorite movies, oddly....



All up, it was a lovely day!

<3

Love the pup pics! Thank you for sharing those. And yeah....Grease and Dirty Dancing are two of my all-time favorite movies!!

 

[carbonfan]

I love hearing about everyone's Valentine's Day festivities! And oh my gosh, @mrs-b, Ballin and Cirrus are just precious, and I love that you give them Ben and Jerry's on special occasions! Our fur babies deserve all the love we can give them! And your neighbor's pooch Murphy is just a doll... I bet he loves all of his outings with you!!

Our usual pattern for birthdays, anniversaries, and Valentine's Day (but usually on an alternate day to avoid the crowds) is to get an Uber and indulge in some amazing local restaurants and breweries, but obviously celebrating pandemic- style looks a lot different and much more low-key! We have been doing everything possible to support local businesses over the last year and have enjoyed a lot of takeout from local restaurants. And in some ways I am enjoying these more laid-back celebrations, too, and just the variety of it all! And really, the simplest sentiments are usually the best!

We had decided to just relax and play Valentine's totally by ear this year, which was fantastic! My DH made me coffee and we exchanged cards and candy, and the kids had drawn us some heart-themed pictures with sweet sentiments as well! Later that day I made some super-easy Valentine's cupcakes with the kids, as they LOVE baking projects. They were nothing fancy but they were delicious and everyone loved being part of the process!

Then for dinner we got Korean takeout, one of our favorites! We enjoy a wide variety of cuisines, but if I had to live on Korean and Thai food for the rest of my days I would have absolutely no problem with that! I scarfed down my fair share of kimchi jun, japchae, and bibambap (and am still enjoying the leftovers!) and paired that with a bit of Riesling. Then we vegged out and watched TV for the rest of the evening. Truly a perfect day if you ask me!

Here are the remaining cupcakes that the kids iced and decorated... I forgot to take a photo of them at the time, so here is the "from the refrigerator" version, LOL!

 

[ean]

We started the day by giving Ben and Jerry's doggie ice cream to our dogs:

Then we did cards (my favorite thing).

He bought me flowers:




We exchanged gifts in lieu of going out to dinner:





This afternoon, I had a little sidewalk date with Murphy - my neighbor's dog, who I adore! I gave him a hand made card and his very own doggie ice cream - wrapped up with a big red bow!




Then this afternoon, I made my DH his favorite dinner (shepherd's pie with vegetables), followed by hot ginger muffins with vanilla ice cream, which we ate while watching Grease - one of his favorite movies, oddly....



All up, it was a lovely day!

<3

Ohhh! It seemed like a cozy and perfect day. I so so love those smeg appliances. I don’t need any but I love the color!

Have you seen this kitchenaid mixer? It is just divine and I think it matches your new smeg appliances. I want it so bad but I already have one in silver. *sigh*

 

[AnastasiaBeaverhausen]

Ohhh! It seemed like a cozy and perfect day. I so so love those smeg appliances. I don’t need any but I love the color!

Have you seen this kitchenaid mixer? It is just divine and I think it matches your new smeg appliances. I want it so bad but I already have one in silver. *sigh*

That reminds me. I still don't have a Kitchenaid mixer yet!!

 

[ean]

That reminds me. I still don't have a Kitchenaid mixer yet!!

I make homemade bread at least once a week and I love mine! I love playing with dough but no way I’m hand kneading for 15 minutes. Whew. Maybe there’s some excuse to have two. Haha

 

[lambskin]

We decided last minute to go out for lunch. As we took our teen, she chose the place. Food was OK but heater was broken. We just had a huge snowstorm and did not want to drive anymore than we had to. So we ate in a freezing cold restaurant, in our coats, while the temp was about minus five Fahrenheit. Everyone liked their special chocolate fudge from me.

 

[carbonfan]

Chiming back in to say that I absolutely adore your Smeg appliances, @mrs-b! I would seriously purchase them for stylistic reasons alone! I hope you are loving them! And your backsplash is gorgeous, too!

 

[mrs-b]

Chiming back in to say that I absolutely adore your Smeg appliances, @mrs-b! I would seriously purchase them for stylistic reasons alone! I hope you are loving them! And your backsplash is gorgeous, too!

Thank you so much, @carbonfan! And I love that backsplash, too! I put all the tiles together individually - trying to make an ordered but asymmetrical non-pattern pattern. It was a major headache. But worth it.

 

[carbonfan]

Thank you so much, @carbonfan! And I love that backsplash, too! I put all the tiles together individually - trying to make an ordered but asymmetrical non-pattern pattern. It was a major headache. But worth it.

Wow, that certainly sounded like a labor of love! But your painstaking efforts paid off in spades, and the end result is every bit as exquisite as you are, @mrs-b!