What did you do for Valentine’s Day? For my wife and I, we change up our V-day plans as often as possible to keep the holiday fresh. To be perfectly honest, I tend to view this holiday as a Hallmark holiday, but any opportunity to cook or go out for dinner is good for me! But is it better to eat in, cooking an elaborate and delicious meal…or better to go out for a romantic dinner?
For most of the world it has always been a day to go out to dinner. And understandably so I might add. For those of you that don’t get to go out often and spend all your time in the kitchen, I completely understand. I get that way myself sometimes. But PLEASE, consider your choices carefully before choosing a destination. If you go to a place like Carrabbas, Bonefish or one of the better chain restaurants, be prepared to wait FOREVER. Most of these locations will not accept call-ahead seating on holidays, thus making your wait an experience all in its own. You can of course make a reservation at a wonderful place like Grille 3501 (one of my favorites), but the room at Grille 3501 is very loud and somewhat cramped. Is this how you want to spend your holiday? Cuddled up with your neighbor and their tuna tar-tar…not a lot of fun. I highly recommend picking one of your favorite restaurants, making a reservation and having a great night. You have 364 other days of the year to experiment and try new things, don’t do it on a holiday. Now I realize this may be late advice for some, but the reason for this timing it because now the day is over, and you have a chance to reflect upon your meal and keep this in the back of your mind for next year (or maybe even a birthday or special occasion coming up.
Now the flip side – cooking at home. If you are comfortable in the kitchen, I highly recommend this. My wife and I this year decided to try something a little new for our meal this year. We made sushi at home! To be honest, it was both fun and frustrating. AND MUCH HARDER THAN IT LOOKS! But, fortunately our indispensable fish guy at our local Wegman’s was a world of information. He advised me to buy my fish directly from the sushi stand (wasn’t aware that I could do that) as they use frozen fish. This helps kill some bacteria in the fish, making it safer to eat raw. Our menu – salmon, tuna and yellowtail sushi with a spicy salmon and spicy tuna roll. This and a nice glass of wine made for a wonderful and delicious evening. Now if raw fish isn’t your idea of a good meal, then go with your gut. I have often bought a few big dry aged steaks, caramelized some onions, whipped some buttermilk potatoes and grilled some asparagus. Go with what you AND your companion like, otherwise the night is going to be a mess, guaranteed.
Now I’d like to hear from all of you. What did you do this year? Did you like your experience? What would you change? What are your ideas for next year? I do hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day and many more to come. Until then…
We signed our taxes and got McDonald's after Alex went to bed. We splurged and got milkshakes as our drink :)
ReplyDeleteGlad your first attempt at sushi worked out! You should do a post with tips!
Wow, that sounds like a thrilling Valentine's Day! Haha, it's ok, we actually did our meal on Sunday because Abi had girl scouts on Valentine's Day. I will definitely post some tips, but we need to improve our sushi skills before we are capable of giving advice. Once I get a little better, I'll do an at home sushi post.
ReplyDeleteFor Valentine's Day I took my first stab at making Shepherd's Pie. It's one of John's favorites and I like it but had never attempted it, mostly because it wasn't something I ate as a child and I used to tend to stick to the familiar. I think it turned out well, but I'm waiting for John's opinion before I decide to try something different with it or continue to make it the way I did. John ended up having to work very late that night, so I spent the actual night with Bobby and Skyping with Emily.
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