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.