FOOD: Valentine’s Day – HELP!

By KATHLEEN NIXON
February 10, 2012

After Christmas and Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day is the next big food holiday. A day wrapped in red roses and chocolate kisses. Holidays tend to bring expectations and emotions associated with them. Oh the pressure! Not just for us mere mortals but the harried restaurants and food purveyors who must satisfy all of our expectations.

This year, look beyond the Hallmark card, Costco roses and the Whitman’s Sampler to more creative food offerings to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Don’t have a sweetheart? Remember friends don’t let friends endure on Valentine’s Day alone.

My recommendations for Valentine’s Day:

Try breakfast rather than dinner: Start the day off with your Valentine by allowing a little extra time to share muffin, scone or croissant with a nice cup of coffee. You can bake your own muffins or you can grab some the night before at one of our local bakeries.

Special treat: Cookies, cupcakes and chocolates. Sweets tend to define Valentine’s Day “sweets for my sweet” In the sweets department, I definitely go for quality over quantity. Give me one really great piece of dark chocolate rather than an entire bag of M&M’s. Locally at the Farmers Market we have two great vendors: Pancha Dulce which now has my favorite cookie Double Chocolate Sea Salt and the Virginia Chocolate Company which always carries a wide variety of dark and milk chocolate.

Dinner: If you do want to try to go to dinner on Valentine’s Day, please go early. All of our local restaurants have special dinners available and they really appreciate reservations and coming in early on big days like Valentine’s Day. Or better yet, try to cook dinner at home, this is what I will be doing. You don’t have to do this from scratch. Pick up a few pre-made items like soup and maybe a Chicken Pot Pie at the Farmer’s Market. Stop by Red, White and Blue or Sfizi’s for wine and munchies to go with evening.

While you may think that the meal will make your Valentine’s Day special, it will be how you celebrate it that will make all the difference. My most memorable Valentine’s Day was celebrated eating a Domino’s Pizza reading a love letter from my best friend and sweetheart. Make your day special too.