Valentine's Day

These days there is a lot of hoopla that surrounds Valentine's Day.

I keep hearing people's discontent about commercialization of this day especially by Hallmark, the absolute need to buy cards. Television News broadcasts are filled with statistics on how much a man spends on their girlfriend and how much less a husband spends on their wife. Not to mention how much price of roses drops one day after Valentine's day.. blah blah blah....

I must be a romantic at heart because I love Valentine's Day. I don't love it because of the chocolates or cards, although they are nice. I like Valentine's Day for its purity at the heart of the holiday. The idea of an international day to celebrate people's love for family, friends and significant others. Its almost like Christmas but without all the religious divisions to mess things up.

I agree it can become too much when people take elaborate initiatives to show their significant other how they feel about them and have a need to top it from year to year. What's more socially jaded is when they feel they need to spend exuberant amounts of money.

In my opinion this is a day to spend time together, call family and friends. I think human contact can be more enriching than elaborate gift. Having said that I do love jewelery. :-)

Going back to commercialization of Valentine's Day by Hallmark I refuse to buy cards and I send my family and friends free Hallmark e-cards. I think I'm not the only one because their server is really-really slow today. :-)

To contradict myself now, I will say that my husband and I are going out to a special Valentine's Day dinner. I'm very excited and I can't wait. It's a new French bistro restaurant right here in London, Ontario called Auberge du Petit Prince. Its been noted that French people know how to love ;-). I'm very delighted that he made the reservations and we will have a wonderful night away from home savoring delicious French cuisine.

Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone!!


xoxo

Monika

Valentine's Day Pink Risotto

I love the idea of making dinner together, especially at Valentine's Day. My husband and I often do that, and it's really relaxing and soulful. I ask him to help stir and he always feels important and delighted to help.

It a great way to spend time in the kitchen together because the process of making risotto is just so easy, no room for fights :-). Especially as its slow-paced and leaves a lot of time for talking and stirring. I always put some slow and sexy music in the background, light candles and open a bottle of bubbly or our favorite wine of the moment. It doesn't have to be an expensive bottle, it just should be something that you enjoy.

Before making risotto, cheer to your happiness and many years of love to come. Then stir and chat and have a sip of champagne or wine while making your meal. The final result is not only delectable but your combined labour of love. A delicious and wonderful way to celebrate Valentine's day and any other day. Visit my site to read this recipe.

Delicious Labour of Love - Valentine's Day Dish

A long, long time ago I had a delicious dinner in a Thai restaurant. It was Coconut Shrimp Curry. I fell in love with that recipe and since then I have been trying to re-create it. I think I finally found the perfect combination of ingredients, it might be even better than the original Coconut Shrimp Curry that I had back in high school. As you can tell I always had love for food.

There are a few steps that need to be made. 1)making of coconut curry sauce 2)sauteing shrimp 3)cooking rice 4)steaming bok choy. Don't give up on making this recipe just yet. Regardless of all the steps the time to make everything from start to finish is less than 1 hour and to help with managing your pre-dinner time, most of them can be made a head of time. Belive me when I say this dish is delicious and is wonderful for a special occasion such as a Valentine's Day.

I have made it many times and always it has been received with applause and eagerness for seconds. So make a lot! To reduce the fat content use a 'coconut milk light'.

I often experiment with different ingredients and I suggest you do the same. If you don't like bok choy or it's not available in your market use broccoli. Instead of shrimp use chicken breast or turkey breast.

Here is a link to the recipe.

http://www.monikakorngut.com/coconut_shrimp_curry.htm

Try it and savour all the delicious flavours. :-)