5 Takes: Eating Our Way Through Valentine’s

Erica Bio | Posts

When it comes to Valentine’s Day, Alex and I, basically, like to eat. We border on being foodies, but really we just love the whole atmosphere of dining experiences throughout the day. Planning an entire day around where we can eat or drink is just about the most romantic thing we can do for one another. There will, of course, be the little gift exchanged in bed, the walk along the water somewhere and the snuggle in the corner, but really it’s about what menus we get to eat our way through. Our 3rd Valentine’s together, this year proves to be not much different.

So, for all you other food romantics out there, I hope to inspire in you a plethora of ways in which you can remind your sweetheart that even with the pleasure of a dining experience, they are still the food that feeds your soul.

14 February 2008

Photo by Alex

Just a mere 3 months after we had gotten together, Alex had already moved back to England and I was set to move to Los Angeles. Before my move, however, I had–in a round about way–ended up being in Europe around V-day and damn if I wasn’t going to stop by for a week to celebrate with my sweetheart. And celebrate we did.

Breakfast: I actually don’t remember breakfast. What I do remember though is that I gave Alex Patty Griffin’s Children Running Through album when we woke up in bed. The track Heavenly Day is going to be our first dance at our wedding; I might have thought of it then.

Picnic/Cream Tea: Cream Tea in Cornwall is scones, clotted cream and jam, with tea. Basic, delicious, very specific to Southwest England. Alex had planned a Cream Tea picnic for us: We would walk along the river to St. Catherine’s Castle, carve our initials in an oak tree, and carry on around the cliff side to a vista point where we would have our tea and snuggle on a blanket. Except that this was my first visit to Cornwall and I didn’t know about any of this stuff! The walk was gorgeous, carving our initials was a surprise (Alex brought an extra knife just for this purpose) and the cream tea scrummy.

Photo by Erica

Dinner: As you can see from the photo it was a pretty relaxed day. We went back to her parent’s house (where she was living at the time), warmed up and got changed to go to dinner at the cafe down the road for pizza. In a cafe/bar which only has 5 tables, we took the corner one and goggled at each other over our individual thin crust pizzas. When we went home, Alex had sprinkled fabric rose petals across the bed, and well, the evening ended on a sweet note.

14 February 2009

Now living together in our own flat in London, we started the V-day celebrations a day earlier by baking cookies:

Photos by Alex and Erica

Brunch: Cookies made the night before were probably our actual breakfast as we’re much better at making brunch in a timely manner. For Valentine’s we made our first batch of pancakes in our English flat in our robes, from scratch (This was before the Krusteaz got sent over!). I was a happy girl.

Photo by Erica

(Yes, even our measuring spoons are heart shaped, cups & tsp/tbsp…)

Lunch: Well, I can’t really tell you about lunch, but it made us late for our planned walk along the Southbank and very hungry for dinner. I’ll leave that one up to you.

Dinner: Our choice of where to eat for dinner was determined by two things: the symbolism of the anchor in our relationship and a rugby match between England and Wales. Hence, we went to the Anchor Pub along the Southbank on the Thames River in London and ate fine pub fare while watching on the rugby match on the telly. So English.

Dessert: After our walk, we crossed my favorite bridge in London–the Millenium Bridge–to St. Paul’s Cathedral and sat ourselves in French cafe for some dessert and glasses of cava before making our way home via Tube.

14 February 2010

Breakfast: If I had my mother’s waffle iron, we would be making heart-shaped bacon waffles. Sadly, we’ve no waffle iron and I have to work at my Sunday resturant job.

Photo by Alex

(For the record, I’ve also made pink, heart-shaped falafels before, but not for breakfast…)

Lunch/Dinner/Drinks: So while I have to work on Valentine’s, I’ve still booked Alex (and a dear friend who is also visiting) in for a table at 2 pm for a Sunday Roast on the house. With any luck, I’ll get to sit down and enjoy the meal with them before popping back up again to wash some glasses and clear some plates. After work, the plan is to get all spiffied-up and go out to have some of the finest cocktails London has to offer at a 2-4-1 deal on Sundays.

Photo by Erica and Alex

With appetities and inspiration hopefully spurred, I say to you this Valentine’s: Eat, drink and be merry–and don’t forget to tell your sweetheart you love them.