Dinner and a Movie.

That’s what we have planned for this valentines day.

At home.

It is the most romantic/familiar place in the world, right? And like the rest of the country, we’re broke. I was thinking about ideal movies to ensure a charming date.


Want to spend Valentines day on the top of the Empire state building? Watch this Carey Grant and Deborah Kerr classic, An Affair to Remember. Make a fancy meal, like this “No Nightmare” Beef Wellington from epicurious.com.

Bring out the white table cloth, candles, the silver. Set the mood for your evening with some pink Champagne and some yummy appetizers.

What to make for dessert? How ‘bout cream puff dessert like grandma used to make? A little chocolate and raspberry sauce and you’ll be toasting your way into a perfect valentines day.

If this doesn’t work for you, do what we usually do for valentines day. Grill a steak or two. Pay an arm and a leg to get asparagus in the winter, make a really great salad like a butter leaf with raspberry vinaigrette and candied walnuts (See below for the real recipe). Pop whatever bottle of wine or bubbly that’s in the cupboard (or whatever vodka plus varied juicy-juice is hanging around) and watch a movie that will make us both laugh or forgo the movie for um.... Well you know. (:

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Walnut and Strawberry Salad:

So you have all the stuff you need:

• 3/4 cup walnuts or almonds
• 1 head of butter lettuce (our market has this locally grown kind... I like it!)
• 6 large strawberries (save the others for your desert)
• 1 diced tomato
• 1 shredded carrot (yummy crunch)
• 1/4 cup sliced red onion
• 1/4 cup olive oil (extra for the walnuts)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2-4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• A squirt or spoonful of Horseradish Sauce
• A few good shakes of garlic salt
• Ground black pepper

What to do next:

1. Place the nuts in a skillet over medium heat. After well coated sprinkle with brown sugar. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until lightly browned. Too long and you'll ruin the pan and your tasty topping.
2. Let the nuts dry and cool down on a plate.
3. In a large bowl, toss the toasted walnuts or almonds, lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, carrots, and red onion.
4. In a large jar with a lid, mix the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, Horseraddish, and pepper. Seal jar, and shake to mix.
5. To serve, drizzle with the dressing... OOOooo so good. 

You’ve heard me rave about spring pad right? The place where my brain resides on the internet?

They have a bunch of new tools that make planning your holiday season, weather you go with Beef Wellington and Delicious Carey Grant, or you snuggle up to a regular evening at home to watch whatever is on PBS. You can organize it there. They have this new planner for your date nights, it'll take any clipping from any webpage can be filed so easy!!

Recipes and restaurants, movie lists. Whatever you want to remember you can find a home for it at springpad. If you use it, tell me what you think! I got a few friends at work hooked too and we all use it totally different.