Valentines Tradition

We do Valentines a little differently and I'd like to share it with you. 

We do give cards but never gifts, flowers or chocolates. We certainly don't go out for a fancy meal. What we do instead of all these things is have a very specific meal at home which in my opinion is way better. This meal is our gift to each other. 

Why? As some of you may know me and Tim met in America even though we are both English.  While we were there, a good friend of ours invited us to stay at his house. He took us to a supermarket where we each picked out a lobster from a tank to take home alive! (something you wouldn't normally get to do in England.) I kept kept peeking at my little fella in the car all the way home, wondering how I felt about the fact we were going to boil him very soon. While the boys teased me that I would hear him scream when we put him in the water. Turns out I felt okay about it! Especially when he turn pink and delicious. And delicious he was! He was my first ever Lobster and certainly wouldn't be the last from that day onwards. We also bought 3 massive steaks obviously.  So for our meal we ate (with melted butter) a whole steak and a whole lobster. Anyway

to remember this meal and the fun we had, this is what we do on Valentines day...

I decorate the table to set the mood...

We upgraded the beer to a glass of champagne...

As Tim is an amazing cook the meal is a little fancier than that first time. The starter varies each year and this time it was poached egg on a bed of Asparagus. Mouths watering yet anyone...?

And here is Larry the Lobster and the large pot in which he would meet his end... (we share a lobster these days as Lobsters in England are well expensive) I think Larry suspects today is not his lucky day...

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Here is Larry looking so tasty with some massive prawns to keep him company. I'm surprised I managed to hold back enough to take the photo. We also have a steak each, sweet corn and homemade chips...Yummy

Oops I almost forgot to take the picture of the dessert because I already started eating it (as you can see). I actually made this chocolate moose myself. It is full of double cream and lots of naughty but lovely dark chocolate.

So there you have it. Afterwards we can barely move but I love how we've created this tradition to remember when we first met over 10 years ago...