Last updated on July 14, 2016 by Liza Hawkins
Valentine’s Day is upon us, and bloggers everywhere are celebrating by posting their thoughts on their spouse, love, gifts, pinks, reds, etc.
I’m no different.
With two young kids and a tight budget to watch, hubs and I typically reserve the “us” holidays for eating out. No sappy cards or fancy gifts, simply food and conversation. And even that (eating out, that is) has been difficult some years (our six year old was born on February 7). But we still make our holiday eating event work … somehow.
Here’s the breakdown since I know you’re dying for more detail:
Years 1 and 2
Reservations at The Red Horse Restaurant, where we had our wedding rehearsal dinner in November 2002. Dark wood panels, fireplaces, and the best prime rib in Frederick (hands down!), it oozes Valentine’s sentiment, without being too pretentious or stuffy. But, that’s the beauty of most Frederick restaurants!
Years 3 and 4
Outback takeout. Not the best prime rib in Frederick, but with decent food and curbside takeaway (yessss!) it fit the bill with a week old infant (year 3) and a just turned 1 year old (year 4).
Years 5, 6 and 7
Valentine’s dinner cooked at home, crab imperial (year 5), crab cakes (year 6 – new baby) and last year (year 7) lobster and ribeye steak. Yes, I cooked the lobsters myself – LIVE. Growing up with family from New England, this was a summer staple when we vacationed on the Connecticut shore, and it’s really not that difficult as long as you can stomach working with the alive part. Interested in how? Be on the lookout for my upcoming article for 40 Mom’s Club; I’ll be sharing how there!
Year 8
This year, we have a gift card to spend: Red Lobster. No, it’s not for a small business, locally sourced restaurant, but it’s eating yummy food out nevertheless — and it’s free for us (budget, budget, budget). Now the trick is finding a night to go out, because it certainly won’t be Valentine’s Day itself — that’s ballet night for our 6-year old! But you know what? As long as we find a night, it doesn’t matter to us that’s it’s the actually the holiday itself.
What do you do for Valentine’s Day, and how has it changed over the years?
LOVE the photo of you and the husband! 2 of my favorite peeps. We’ve done a bunch of stuff over the years too – gone out for sushi, brought sushi in, gone out for the best prime rib in DE, cooked at home. This year, a girlfriend of mine is actually giving me a cooking lesson on Valentine’s Day, so I thought it would be a good idea to eat the fruits of my labor. She’s teaching me how to cook a lobster, since she says they’re on sale around VDay and yes, they’ll be live! I’m totally freaking out. I’m also learning how to make some other stuff too – chicken parm, not sure what else. Pound cake and chocokate ganache with raspberry sauce for dessert! Wish me luck that it doesn’t go awry – she’s a great cook but everything I touch turns to crap. LOL
Good luck Jess! I’m sure you’ll do fabulous, especially with a teacher at your side. You have to, of course, let me know how the lobster goes for you.:)
Know what I find extremely odd about this post? THAT YOU CAN REMEMBER WHAT YOU DID EVERY YEAR. (Dude, I can’t even remember last week…)
@Jackie – it’s food related, and I’m obsessed. Of COURSE I remember. 🙂