Valentine’s, our way

Valentine’s Day has never been a big deal for JG and me. During our first few Valentine’s Days together, we were confined by small college budgets, and we never really outgrew that mentality.

Since we got married, the tradition has been to exchange small presents, have dinner at home on the actual day, and then go out for a fun dinner later, when all of the crowds have died down. It’s a nice combination of a special occasion and our regular routine. This year, because of the placement of Valentine’s Day in the week and some other fun plans, we ended up having a sort of extended Valentine’s weekend, and it was really lovely and relaxing.

Thursday
JG and I exchanged gifts when I get home from work. Because of our low cost stipulation, we have to be creative, and I got him a CD he’d asked for at Christmas but didn’t receive, in addition to a folding frame with four black-and-white photos of him and Ted. JG had mentioned in passing that he didn’t have any pictures of Ted on his desk at school, so I hoped I did a good job picking them out. Much to my relief, JG was really happy with the pictures, but the album did not impress upon first listen. Oh, well. For his part, JG did very well with the purchase of my very own awesomely nerdy Scrabble shirt. Yes! I am so sporting it at the next teacher-friend game night so as to intimidate the competition. True love is geeky paraphernalia, friends.

Since JG is the main cook at our house and I prefer to make desserts, we trade requests on Valentine’s Day. I asked for steak and mashed potatoes for dinner this year, and JG made the unexpected dessert choice of carrot cake, and it was all delicious. We laughed mockingly at those poor saps who were fighting for tables at restaurants that night when we had a perfectly tasty meal from the comfort of home.

Saturday
JG made fluffy pancakes for a late breakfast, and we headed down to campus for my first Delaware basketball game. For whatever reason, I never went to a game while I was in college, despite rumors of free soft pretzels for the students. Lessons learned:

• Basketball is way too fast for me to take decent pictures.
• Lack of natural light makes people look orange.
• I only know to yell, “Come on!” at any given opportunity, which gets kind of redundant.
• I still don’t understand dance teams; I had to avert my eyes from the halftime routine from an overwhelming sense of dirtiness.
• I can’t eat a funnel cake off of my knees without getting covered in confectioner’s sugar.

Game highlights included the aforementioned funnel cake and the Mascot Ball game at halftime. Unfortunately, we lost it in the final seconds. Painful.

Sunday
In an uncharacteristic move, JG and I went out for our “Valentine’s Day, Observed” dinner on Sunday night at a Japanese-Thai restaurant, Teikoku, that has become one of our recent favorites. The atmosphere is really modern and Asian-inspired without being cheesy, and the service and food are both excellent.

I blushingly asked for a drink called the Kama Sutra, and we got sushi to share as a starter, since Teikoku holds the honor of serving JG his first-ever taste of sushi the first time we ate there. JG deliberated over what to order for dinner, and eventually settled on a lobster-shrimp-tempura gorgonzola-fondue contraption he had the last time we were there. He wanted to try something new, but that dish was so good. I went with pan-seared scallops in a saffron cream sauce, with spinach-shiitake orzo on the side, and it did not disappoint. The dinner conversation about anniversary presents and our plans for spring break was punctuated by our sighs over the food.

Despite being ridiculously full after my entrée, I was swayed JG’s choice of the chocolate soufflé and ordered a coconut macadamia nut tart with white chocolate raspberry ice cream for dessert. My eyes were bigger than my stomach, and I couldn’t eat even half of the tart, even though JG relieved me of all of the ice cream. I just could not hack it that night.

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So maybe our Valentine’s fun wasn’t traditional, but it was just right. Lots of food, conversation, and plain old hanging out — that’s pretty much how we roll, anyway.