Some people think that Valentine’s Day is just another cheesy holiday, but not me. I love Valentine’s Day! I think it’s the perfect excuse to go overboard with the hearts, the color pink, and… well, love!
Last year, Mike and I had a post-Valentine’s lunch at Nikkei, a Japanese-Peruvian restaurant. But this year, we decided to just celebrate at home. His schedule is extremely tight and he has some work deadlines this month. Also, his mum and brother-in-law are visiting from Australia and the UK, respectively. It’s very rare for all of us to be together. Hence, instead of going out on a romantic date, we had a family Valentine’s Day lunch in our place instead.
My initial plan was to just order food for all of us. But then, I had the urge to go the extra mile and make it a little more… Valentine-y! So I filled our little home with lots of LOVE… literally!
I’m not kidding when I say I put my heart into our lunch setup! I added some love-themed touches to our home so that we can pretend that we’re dining in a romantic restaurant.
Links to shop:
Heart paper plates
Heart napkins
Disposable cutlery
Disposable paper cups
Cotton spandex fabric (in baby pink)
Heart garland banner
I also set up a little ‘love corner’ in Andi’s playroom by putting up a ‘love’ balloon, sticking some hearts on the wall, and having some Valentine’s Day throw pillows.
Links to shop:
Valentine’s Day throw pillow covers
LOVE linking foil balloon (in red)
And of course, the way to anyone’s heart is through food, so I ordered some delicious dishes so we can have a ‘hearty’ meal!
I’m not kidding when I said that this is a good day to go overboard with the hearts! I even got heart-shaped food, like the Heart Mixed Gunkan from Salmon HQ. It’s sushi rice wrapped in salmon with a variety of toppings such as uni, kani, chuka wakame, salmon roe, and more. I love their salmon sashimi and I even had their sushi cake for my birthday, so I was really excited to try their gunkan, which was as good as it looked! Their customer service is superb too. Our rider was careless in delivering my order so it was damaged when it arrived, but Salmon HQ offered to send a replacement ASAP and even shouldered the delivery via car. They not only made my tummy happy, but they made my heart happy too!
I also ordered a tray of Truffle Pasta and Angus Beef Shortplate from Raclette Manila. I’ve had their food at one of their events before (I’m just not sure if it was an event I hosted or attended) and remembered it to be really delicious! I discovered just recently that the owner of this catering company is actually Mike’s cousin! Small world! We really loved the food. The pasta was one of the most delicious truffle pastas I’ve had (and I’ve had a lot!) and the beef was tender and tasty. I’ll order their raclette kit next time!
For dessert, we had the La Vie En Rose cake from Bizu. This special-edition Valentine drip cake is made of moist sponge cake, flavored with strawberry compote and rose essence, and white chocolate ganache. This cake was so pretty in all angles! I didn’t get a chance to try the toppings though because Andi ate all of it! Haha! The cake was not too sweet on the inside, though the outer shell was made of hard chocolate, which was on the sweeter side.
Instead of wine, we just had Welch’s Sparkling Rosé. It looks like pink moscato, but it’s actually just fizzy pink grape juice. I kept it baby-friendly since we have a toddler in the house!
I was happy just to have my family and good food for Valentine’s Day, but the day was extra lovelier because I received the most beautiful flowers from my sister Alexa and my friend Alessa / Hey Holiday. Alexa even got some gorgeous flowers for Andi!
Mike and I don’t do flowers on Valentine’s Day, so I had already conditioned myself to expect that I won’t be seeing a single petal that day. So when I got calls from riders telling me that they were delivering flowers for me, I had to confirm if they were indeed for me! “Are you sure that’s for me? Who is it from? Are you sure you got the unit number right?” One time, my groceries were delivered to a different unit, so I was thinking that maybe the riders just made a mistake and the flowers were actually for one of my neighbors! Haha! So yes, I was definitely surprised! And even though I said I’d be totally cool about not receiving flowers on Valentine’s Day, I have to admit, getting those flowers made me a really happy girl!
Mike and I don’t get each other expensive gifts on Valentine’s Day. He’s a lucky guy because I don’t demand flowers or jewelry! He could give me a bar of Twix and it would be the most romantic thing ever. This year, he just told me to order any food that I want and get myself something that I like and he’ll just pay for it. Hmm… let me add more stuff to my shopping cart then! Haha!
Valentine’s Day is not just for couples, but for kids too! I got Andi some love-themed books that are not just perfect for Valentine’s Day, but for any other day as well.
Hope everyone had a happy hearts day! ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
