Georgia, what sweet kids. Sounds like a nive, happy couple willing toshare what they have. Do you think this gal's the winner?

I had a little surprise too. The day before Valentine's Day Ross decided we were going to have dinner and stay in the city for the big lover's day.

I took the overnight bag, scooped him up from work at 6:00, we ran by our favorite restaurant in Little Italy to get carry-out, then dashed to the hotel. Upon check-in, we moved the furniture around a little so we could have dinner by the window overlooking the inner harbor. Our room was on the 8th floor and it was a gorgeous winter night.

We could hear and see couples coming and going in the rat race below while we were snug in our room with dinner for two and a bottle of wine. Hmmm.

I remembered everything we needed except his dress shirt and tie for the next morning so we had to run to the mall that's connected to the hotel to get him a shirt. He had a 7:15 patient and I had an 8:00 work call so I dropped him off, then headed back home. It was short and sweet and lots of fun.

No more details! Just a fun way to share sweetheart's day!

Hope everyone felt loved!

JJ, that was so sweet. It almost made me cry too. My Valentine's Day could be called "My Funny Valentine." We were not going to do a lot or buy gifts because we just had that nice weekend away. Then, the night before, Dick gave me a beautiful necklace. So, on Valentine's Day, I thought I would cook supper. (A shock, more than a surprise) I called him at 6:10 to tell him I was on my way home and not to cook. That made him happy. I had bought the stuff to make dinner a couple days before, just in case I felt like doing this. I was making pasta with a garlic, oil and plum tomato sauce and breaded eggplant. He loves eggplant like this. I walked in with a red rose and a big balloon for him. (Such role reversal) By the time I got home and got everything ready, it was getting late. I set the table, opened a bottle of wine and went about my preparations and he sat and watched a movie. I covered the eggplant and put it on the table. The plum tomato sauce was just about ready and the water was just coming to a boil. (It was almost 8PM!) We were hungry. I was taking the pasta out of the package when BAM. Out went the lights! AND THE STOVE. Had I found the tea lights for the table earlier, we would have had candles going, but I couldn't find the new bag I bought so I figured the rose on the table would be enough.

We scrambled for the flashlights and candles and waited, figuring the power would come right back on. We sampled the eggplant in the meantime. About 8:45, we found out there was a major power outage and that they would hopefully have it back on by 11 p.m. I put the stuff in the fridge and poured myself some wine. (He already had a drink) We ate the eggplant by a whole lot of candlelight. The power didn't come back on until well after 2 a.m.

This is yet more proof that I should stay out of the kitchen.

I am laughing out loud here. If that isn't an article in the making, I don't know what is. Girl, welcome to my world. That is the kind of thing that happens to MOI all the time! What a hoot!

I hope you got an "A" for effort!

He loved the eggplant. Last night, I took him out for Chinese food. My next book may be, "Why Not To Cook Book." I think you just gave me an idea Let's see, there's the latest chapter on real candlelight dinners made easy, the "glass bowl in the beef stew is not a crouton," "what to do on Thanksgiving morning when you find out the turkey is rotten," "how to clean Stovetop suffing off the stovetop when you open the bag too fast," "how to cook for a crowd in frigid temperatures when the gas line freezes and the party is in a few hours," and my all time favorite which explains why you should never put Pyrex in the broiler, "there's glass in the pork chops." This last one could almost be a book in itself. I have several stories about pork chops mishaps and to this day believe that pork chops are bad luck and will not eat them or order them in a restaurant.

I could also list several good restaurants and tips on eating out in my book. What do you think?

Wow, Louisa....you have me laughing hysterically! Love the book idea...I'd buy it right away! I also have some good (or sad) cooking stories if you decide to make this a compilation! Like how I burnt 17 crockpots of Italian sauce (in the basement of the church)that was supposed to feed visiting missionaries and church leaders. Oh yeah, got many!

Sounds like a plan to me. I could offer the time I cooked french fries in water. No, no I didn't...but I THOUGHT I was cooking them....

Grilling out is a speciality of mine as well...that is, if you like fire.

We may have started a whole other thread here:) I had so many close calls with a hibachi, I would never try a gas grill. We can't have a gas grill here. We have an electric one. As long as I don't have to use it, I don't care.

Disaster cooking stories. Yes me too...the worst ones are when we expected guests, the kind you don't know that well...and would like to impress....hahahahahahahaha

If you write that book Louisa, I'll be glad to send you my yucky cooking stories.

Hey...I think this deserves to be a thread all on its own! Now back to Valentine's Day...as I've so eloquently whined in other threads today, I was living in the dark ages on Valentine's Day this year. No lights, no heat, no water. Hubby still came home bearing a beautiful bouquet of flowers. And as unromantic as this sounds, he replaced my tires! My poor tires had seen quite enough with all the daily travel I had done in my last job. We drove through the dark streets to find someplace with lights. We found a little local store that had a grill and went in for a hmaburger. Yup...that was Valentine's Day this year.

I laid his gift on the dining rm. table...simple a card, a bottle of maple vinegarette and a small bag of Lindt dark chocolate...before I went to work early morning. I had the gifts lying around for past few weeks.

After work, we decided to browse while walking along street. And found a lovely small Japanese restaurant. Walls were plastered with autographs from sports figures, musicians....we sat right at the sushi bar. It's only been 2nd time in my life I've seen sushi made that close..even though we do go to Japanese restaurants often. EAch of us chose...hot, nutritious soup broth with udon noodles. Appetizer of hot chili based tomato tofu --Japanese style.

Then when I got home, his gift was handmade chocolates from gourmet cake and chocolate place...we both know...run by a German-trained chef (he is German) from Black Forest region and his Chinese (or is it Thai?) wife. He says he stood in line on V-day to get the chocolates with a cycling buddy of his....shop was 40 people deep at 1:00 pm.

Of course, there was an ulterior motive why he bought 2 small gift packs of these chocolates....so I shared them with him.