Valentine's Day Dinner for Two

Sometimes, when I'm not feeling inspired, I rely on the flowers to speak to me.  This year my husband came home with a couple of mixed bundles that were so beautiful and looked so fresh, especially the mini-carnations, that I just knew this would be the starting point.

The whorls continued with the ruffles in these soft pink napkins.  They really did remind me of the pedals of a flower.  

I pulled out the lace placemats from Horchow, which I've had for a while.  I first used them here when my husband and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary.  Unfortunately, they are no longer available.  The flatware is Jefferson by Reed and Barton, for Monticello.  I've also had it for a while, and have used them here and here, among many other tables.  I love the gentle heart-shaped curve of the handle, perfect for the day of Love!

The goblet and wine glasses are part of my wedding crystal collection — Chartres, by Atlantis.  After all these years I still love them!

The rose gold chargers were a lovely complement to the pink . . . 

So, I decided to pull out the copper tube napkin rings . . .

And the copper hobnail votive holders.

The salad plates are part of the Williams-Sonoma Citrus Salad Plates.  This one is supposed to represent a pink grapefruit.  The set of four comes with a lime, lemon, orange, and grapefruit plate.  It seemed to go so well with the copper that they just fell into place.

And, voilà the table is set!

Time to start thinking about the food, my least favorite part.

To start, a Grapefruit Avocado Salad on a bed of Romaine, with Goat Cheese Crumbles, and a simple vinaigrette with Dijon mustard.  I should call this the Costco salad since all the ingredients were picked up there.  The grapefruits may be the sweetest and juiciest I've ever had, so if you live near Costco, run and pick up a bag!  

The salad was followed by Pan-fried Garlic Shrimp, served with Quinoa Fiesta — a quinoa salad with corn, red bell pepper, jalapeño, scallions, dressed with lemon and olive oil.  

The dinner was delicious and it left us filling satisfied, but not stuffed so that then we could indulge in some sinful desserts!

Dark-chocolate covered strawberries . . .

My vanilla custard (Natilla), decorated with a powdered cinnamon heart in the center.  This is one of my husband's favorite desserts.  Actually, my entire family loves it.  I make it all the time, so to dress it up and make it seem special, I created my own stencil in the computer, cut it out, and used it to create the heart.  

The sugar cookies came from our supermarket, but balanced out the plate, and my husband loves cookies!

And once dinner was finished, the flowers remained, to delight and make me feel loved.

Joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

My little heart sachets are a delight. I scatter them through drawers to keep them fresh with their lavender scent. They are fun to spot as I rifle through drawers, and then, once a year, I gather them in a pretty basket and display them on my dresser.

To line the basket, I used my wedding handkerchief, handmade in Cuba and brought to me by my beloved godmother, Mamá Lala.

The sachets have been collected through countless years; some are gifts, others I found in unexpected places.

Here's the basket from a few years ago, in which I used a different handkerchief to line the basket. Love is in the air. ❤

A Valentine's Supper with the Other Woman

 The "Other Woman" is no less than my favorite chef, Ina Garten.  

From the moment I woke up that morning, until the magical Blue Hour, it was Ina, Ina, Ina!

I placed a card table in front of our fireplace . . .

Then, a vase of beautiful red roses, a gift from my husband, on the table, 

Plus a few extra touches, like the flatware with the heart-shaped handles . . .

Some Ikat Heart napkins, and . . . 

Voilà!  The table was set for a romantic fireside dinner for two.

Cheese and crackers are an aphrodisiac, yes?  The little cheese heart was stabbed in the center.  Oh, it doesn't seem fair that its death should be our joy!

To balance things out, I also invited Raymond . . .

Oh, if you could only touch the label!  It feels like velvet.  By now, we have amply established that I'm a wine philistine and continue to choose my wine by the label.  Isn't it pretty?  And it was so delicious!

We wanted a light supper tonight, not a heavy meal that would put us to sleep, so Ina Garten's French Onion Soup, in my new Lion's Head soup bowls were just the ticket!  Some of you may remember my waxing lyrical mentioning them during our trip to Paris three years ago. After three years of thinking about them, I caved in and bought them!

Ina's recipe calls for Parmesan cheese "or the cheese of your choice."  I guess there's some debate among foodies about what constitutes the perfect cheese to use on this humble soup, shocking, I know.  I decided to use Gruyère de Compté because it sounded so French, has a nutty flavor, and melts beautifully.  It is French, not Swiss, and it was available at that famous American fromagerie, Chez Costco. 

The onions were cooked, ever so slowly, over several hours before adding the stock, Cognac, sherry and wine - after which I had to go take a shower and change my clothes, so I wouldn't be exuding allium pheromones, that wouldn't be too romantic.

Then, to end the simple supper, Ina Garten's Chocolate Mousse, so very, very rich!  So incredibly delicious!

I whipped the cream myself so I could control the sugar, I don't like overly sweet desserts.  Shave a little chocolate on top, slice a strawberry . . . and prepare for heaven on Earth!

Even in the midst of a pandemic, love, joy and deliciousness can still be found.  Happy Valentine's Day!

A Valentine's Day Picnic

Anyone who has ever stopped at Mary's of Home is Where the Boat Is, knows that her blog should come with a caution sign, something like:  WARNING:  INSPIRATION AHEAD.  POSSIBLE ADDICTION AND FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY.  ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY OF FALLING IN LOVE!

So, when I was looking for inspiration for my Valentine's Day celebration, I discovered this gem among many, many of her Valentine's Day posts.  She calls it The Love Boat.

Doesn't that look amazing?  I immediately knew this was it.  So what if there were some minor difficulties?  I mean, I don't own a pontoon, it's the middle of winter here in the Midwest, and there's no possibility of getting out on a lake right now . . .  But!  I have some plaid and a picnic basket.  How hard could it be?  Well, it turns out that there’s so much more than meets the eye! Mary’s seemingly effortless stylings actually require quite a bit of planning, and a natural flair.

First, Mary used these darling white napkins with a rickrack trim.  I remember seeing them at Pier 1, and walked right past them as though they didn't exist.  I am not a good browser.  I usually go to the stores with a single purpose, and my brain shuts down to other possibilities.  Now they are no longer available, but I've had these other napkins for the last 10 years, and I figured they would do.  You can also find them in here, in another blog post.  They are not exactly the kind that I would take to a picnic, but this is, after all, Valentine’s Day.

Mary also used red napkins in a tiny gingham pattern, which I have in brown, green, pink, yellow and lavender, but not red.  But the larger gingham pattern is close enough.  Oh, and it so happens that I already owned the same exact cutting board from Kohl's.  Score!

As for the picnic basket, I have an old Longaberger basket from the 90's.  Do you remember those days when so many of us thought we'd perish unless we owned at least one Longaberger basket?  This one was one of the exclusive ones that only show hostesses could buy.  Lucky for me, I had a consultant that had a very practical streak, and once she became convinced that I was not party material (at least, NOT this kind of party) she let me buy the hostess specials at retail, swearing me to secrecy over her breaking the rules.  What made it exclusive was the narrower size of the slats.

JE T'AIME!  Isn't that romantic?  I headed off to World Market to see if I could find it.  

No luck.  However, I did find this other beautiful bottle, and, after all, isn't that how we should always choose our wine, by the look of the bottle?

I do not own any of those beautiful Skyler dishes that Mary used, but these pretty ones might work.

It’s called Pink Toile by Churchill, and depicts several idealized scenes from the English countryside.  The scene below shows a gentleman is getting ready to jump a fence with his horse, if you look to the right, his hound seems to be hiding among the bushes.

Further to the right a young man is holding a fishing rod, a swan swims nearby, and in the center of the plate, cows graze in a bucolic setting.  Yes, indeed, perfect for a picnic.

I found some heart-shaped crackers at World Market, too!

So here's my basket . . .

Now for the cheese tray.  Crackers, cheese and fruit . . . check!

My Nantucket dish by Wedgwood is even similar to Mary's . . .  I served some of our favorite cheeses:  Provolone, Port Salut and Wensleydale with Cranberry.

Because Valentine's Day fell on a Friday -  a work day for me, we had our picnic at night, and because it was dinner time, we needed something a bit more substantial, so I prepared some chicken salad and placed it on a bed of radicchio . . .

It came together very quickly by using a rotisserie chicken and adding onion, celery, roasted red peppers, cranberries, salt, pepper, a little mayo, and lemon juice.  It's one of our go-to dishes when we are busy, and my husband never seems to get tired of it!

Well, we sat on the floor by our fireplace and had our own Winter Picnic for two, while the fire crackled and some love songs played in the background . . .

We opened the champagne, which was delicious!

I pulled out our Waterford Millenium Flutes with the Heart Design . . .

I couldn't resist getting two different kinds of the Chocolove Chocolate Bars, my favorite flavors . . .

They were both excellent, but I must confess, I loooved the Orange Peel. 

And both of them came with poems printed on the inside of the wrapper!

Our "Love Boat" Picnic was wonderfully romantic, and, on a day when the wind was howling outside, we cuddled by the fireplace and celebrated our 36th Valentine's Day together.  Thank you, Mary, for helping me plan it!  Hoping that your day was filled with love.