Valentines Day

I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines Day. We started the day exchanging gifts and cards.

Valentine gifts and cards

We are quite traditional with our exchanges. We always get each other a card and my husband always buys me red roses and chocolates and I always buy him a D.V.D. and chocolates.

Red roses are my favourite and I think the most romantic so although he buys me other flowers at other times it is always red roses for Valentines. We both love chocolates so that gives us something to share for lunchtime desserts and we both enjoy films so that gives us something to watch together in the evening.

We always have our Valentines dinner at home. We both feel that going out on Valentines Day means overpriced set menus and quickly turned couples tables and if distance is involved a taxi too.

We take turns at making something special at home.

I decided to go for a seafood theme. I found these frozen langoustines at Tesco which I hadn’t seen before. I had never cooked them before but it said to defrost them then cook in boiling water for five minutes.

I also bought a pot of luxury crab meat and some gravadlax smoked salmon with a mustard and dill dressing. My purchases were paid for with one of my fifteen pound Tesco vouchers so it is a free meal making it even better.

I decided to serve it with Marie Rose sauce, mixed leaf salad and crusts off brown bread and butter. I also got some chocolate mouse desserts which were on offer at four for a pound.

Langoustines before I cooked them

Langoustines after they were cooked and shelled

I was amazed how small they were after cooking and shelling. They looked lost on this plate so I decided to serve them like this.

Langoustines in individual dishes

I decided to serve the cab meat in the same way

Gravadlax smoked salmon and a mustard and dill sauce

Salad leaves

Brown bread and butter and Marie Rose sauce topped with a sprinkle of paprika.

With my voucher it hasn’t cost anything and with only five minutes cooking the langoustines it has also been an easy meal.

We also had a bottle of fizz left over from Christmas and New Year which we decided to save for Valentines so it has been really low cost this year.

Valentine table

I don’t usually take photos of food but Valentines is an exception. A perfect table for two at home.

And … it was delicious. We are not big eaters these days but we ate every bit.  It was the perfect meal for us. A very enjoyable Valentines indeed.