Tuesday, February 19, 2013

valentine's day snapshot.

In the nearly eight years that Justin & I have been together, we have always acknowledged & celebrated Valentine's Day, but never in a huge, over-the-top way. We prefer to keep this holiday understated & simple, & that is exactly how I like it.
This year, Valentine's Day was a Thursday, & while Justin was at work, I collected the necessary ingredients & cooked up some candied jalapenos. Lessons learned: remove the jalapeno seeds so they're not scorching hot, & prepare the jalapenos a few days in advance so they can really stew & sweeten up in the syrup. Though this treat wasn't perfectly executed, I think Justin really appreciated it, as he has been requesting this confection for... I don't even know how long. I think he was thrilled I finally got around to it, & I'm not going to lie, I definitely benefitted form eating this spicy, sweet, cream cheese, wheat thins goodness. 

That evening, we dined at Dock Street Oyster Bar - a little hole-in-the-wall beloved by the locals around here. Multiply those happy faces you see in the photo above by about twenty, & that's how we felt about our meal. I'm not big on sweet potatoes, but the mashed variety we enjoyed alongside our mahi & shrimp did not disappoint. 

We then retreated back home to watch our two Red Box picks for the night: The Perks of Being a Wallflower & Taken 2. Since my copy of Perks is worn & probably the most highlighted book I own, I was banking on the film version being a success. And it was. As soon as the credits were rolling, Justin turned to me & said, 'That was great.' 

Taken 2... not so much. About three quarters of the way through the film, I found myself scoffing, relating the movie to a video game. Because all it was, was creeping around, trying not to get killed. It had basically no storyline. It just... didn't hold a flame to the original, in my opinion.

How did you celebrate Valentine's Day this year? I will say... I didn't eat nearly enough candy... and no red & pink M&Ms at all, unfortunately.


photos: valentine's day \ instagram

16 comments:

Amanda English said...

We ordered sushi to go and made a fire! =)


www.eloquentenglish.me

Mree said...

That's too bad Taken 2 wasn't as good as the first. I really loved the first one and have lost count how many times I have watched it. Sounds like it was a fun Valentine's Day.

Jeans and a Teacup said...

Candied jalapenos?! I've never heard of such a thing! It sounds delicious though! And so does your dinner! I did about the same thing with my husband - dinner and then movie at home!
~Jessica

Jillian said...

Sounds like you got everything planned straight down to the dessert. It is great when you can spend Valentine with that special someone.
I am following you now and would love for you to follow along.

http://puzzlemecomplete.blogspot.com/2013/02/today-sydney-is-3-years-old.html

Tina Byland said...

how was taken 2? i've been wanting to see it forever! we need to see it..... it was good wasn't it?!?!!?

Amy Lynn said...

We had a really nice evening in, and we redboxed it too! We rented Robot and Frank. It was really good :)
I'm going to have to see if my library has that book, I've been hearing so many good things about it and the movie, and I almost rented it for valentines!

Maya McDonald said...

Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate! Brian and I went out for dinner and came home to a How I Met Your Mother marathon...doesn't get much better than that ;)


xx,
Maya
www.charminglystyled.com

siddathornton said...

ooooh yes, i'd definitely recommend the book. it's such a great one. and isnt' redbox just the greatest thing ever? we swear by it.

siddathornton said...

i was disappointed in it. i LOVED the first one, & i think i was holding it to unrealistic standards. i found it to be boring & lacking in plot - i hate saying that, but it's true!

siddathornton said...

hi jillian! thank you for following me. i will definitely check out your blog :)

siddathornton said...

i adore dinner & a movie dates - they're my favorite kind, especially if the movie is at home. the candied jalapenos are delicious - you put them on top of cream cheese & eat them with wheat thins. we totally destroyed it as soon as he got home! YUM :)

siddathornton said...

oh, it definitely was & totally our style - we love watching movies at home. i loved the first taken also... which is why it was so disappointing that the second one just didn't measure up.

siddathornton said...

that sounds perfect! and now my stomach is rumbling for sushi ;)

Sara Louise said...

We keep Valentine's Day low key here too. I surprised my husband with breakfast in bed and then we had a cozy couch night with pizza and beer. It was lovely :)
I love candied jalepenos but never thought of making my own (my mom will bring me some when she visits me from Texas). What recipe do you use?

siddathornton said...

that sounds like a perfect valentine's day - & right up my alley!

i actually found a youtube video that really simplified the process. since i needed them in the same day, & they couldn't steep long in the syrup, i just added more sugar so they would sweeten up quickly. here's the video i used: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RniD3lGSAA8. next time, i'm going to let them sit in the syrup a couple of days before putting them over cream cheese & digging in with the wheat thins ;)

Sara Louise said...

Thanks for the link! :)

the back and forth.

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