Valentine's Day

There the holidays go, begging for attention and gifts, gifts, gifts! When it comes to holidays and holiday gift giving, the amount you spend can rack up before you realize. Flowers, candy, a gift, dinner, etc. Add that up to find out that it really is ending in a large sum of cash. I like to think of myself as a really sentimental gift giver. I have always stuck with a budget (even as a child) and sometimes found myself going over, as I found THE perfect present. They really were, too. Useful and absolutely loved by the recipient. However, I have found that a lot of times a gift from the heart would have had the same impact with a much longer lasting effect.

My beau and I don’t exchange gifts for any holiday. Zero. We do participate in family gift exchanges, but don’t see the point in buying something for each other. There is limited space in our abode and to fill it with “things” tends to clutter it up. Not to mention the fact that it is already cluttered. SPRING! Come soon! I need to get to that spring cleaning!!

I have found that handwritten letters (in your own words- from the heart) are of the most value when it comes to gift giving. However, since our anniversary was just a few weeks ago, the letter is a no-go this holiday. What better way to get to a man’s heart than through food? There are several delectable recipes available that have had my mouth watering for over a week. Here are a few:

Bears on Cloud 9

Chocolate Raspberry Cups

Chicken Amore

Fresh Riccota with Rosted Red Pepper on Crostini

None of these are difficult and the results look fabulous! Now I’m salivating again.

Tonight I am making a Semi-homemade version of Spanakopita, or Greek Spinach Pie. My darling came home from Seattle raving about his brother’s recipe. Since then, I have been waiting for time to make this special meal for him as a treat. I got in touch with his brother and had him send me the recipe. As it involves phyllo dough, the difficulty of this dish was a complete turn off for me and my patience. Then, a coworker pointed out that croissants do the same job. As the crust I will be using 2 packages of croissant dough rolled out and pinched at the seams instead of the layer, egg wash, layer cycle of phyllo dough. Mix the filling (easy part), top with second package of dough, pop in the oven and DONE! Easy Spanakopita! Thanks, Jan, for the tug back to reality on that one.

After dinner, a nice relaxing evening at home. As my beau would put it, “Every day is Valentine’s Day for us.” He is a sweet man.