A low-key Valentine’s evening at home, plus giveaway
I’ve talked about this before, I know, but Terry and I don’t really do Valentine’s Day. Or rather, we do… just not in the way I suspect you’re really “supposed” to.
We don’t exchange cards, for instance, or gifts. There’s no themed dressing (Or not from me, anyway: Terry sometimes finds it hard not break out all of his pink, heart-themed outfits…), and although we will occasionally push the boat out with a nice meal out somewhere, what we REALLY like doing is… well, staying home and having ourselves a Netflix marathon, basically. Last of the great romantics, or what?
Because Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year, we decided to “celebrate” on Sunday night instead, and because we’re not complete heathens, we did a few things to attempt to make the evening feel just a little bit different from our usual Sunday nights in. There was champagne, for instance. (Well, OK, it was actually Cava, but hey!) There were candles – and pink and red heart-shaped ones, no less! Finally, there were snacks: because I don’t know about you, but I don’t ever want to have to sit through a Netflix marathon without snacks – and lots of them, ideally.
Now, as much as I love my chocolate, I actually have more of a savoury tooth than a sweet one, so I’ll pick the cheese board over dessert any day. (This works out pretty well, because Terry has a super-sweet tooth, so I get to eat some of his ice-cream, and he… well, he doesn’t get any of my cheese board, because Amber doesn’t share. Nuh-uh.) We’ll quite often have some crackers with cheese when we’re relaxing in front of the TV for the evening, and, I’ll just be honest, we don’t normally go to this much effort with it, but hey: if you can’t get a bit fancy for Valentine’s day, when can you?
We made these using The Laughing Cow soft cheese, and if you’re thinking that I probably ate a few triangles straight from the tub while we were taking these photos, then yes: you are absolutely right about that. I also ate a couple while I was writing this post, actually. What can I say, I like my cheese…
We kept the toppings pretty simple on these: onions and grapes for me, and some strawberry jam to satisfy Terry’s sweet tooth – although, I have to admit that I’m ALSO a fan of that particular ‘sweet n’savoury’ combination, so I might have had some of those too. Whoops.
As for what we were watching while we were working our way through these snacks, meanwhile, well, as I’m sure you’ve probably guessed from this post, it was The Walking Dead. Because nothing says ‘romance’ quite like an evening spent watching people smash the skulls of zombies, does it? Exactly.
If you’d like to create your own romantic evening in, meanwhile, either with or without the zombies (I mean, I’d recommend at least a FEW of them, but it’s totally up to you, obviously…), The Laughing Cow are giving away two Loving Cow boxes, packed full of bespoke ingredients to help you on your way. You’ll find details of how to enter below: sorry, guys, but this one is open to UK residents aged 18 and over only!
How are you spending Valentine’s Day this year?
[This post was sponsored by The Laughing Cow]
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
I love spending time in on Valentine’s Day! Definitely beats going out to the crowded and overpriced restaurants. (Ps: I’m probably the only one not entering the giveaway because I hate cheese, haha!)
Charmaine Ng
Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
Cali Clarke
Husband and I discussed Valentines on Saturday and decided we wouldn’t do anything special as we’re off to Venice (squee!) on Friday. Then this morning he announces he’s booked T2 at the cinema and ASK Italian (as it was the only place he could book on Valentines – d’oh). So we’re off out, unexpectedly, for a low-key V-night.
Erin
I bought my husband a card & a fancy gourmet smoked salt set. He’s the cook, so he’ll be into it. I also bought us tickets to see Hedwig & the Angry Inch in a few weeks. We both love plays, so it should be fun. I don’t like going out on the actual VD because it’s so crowded and awkward. My husband allegedly got something for me, but I have no idea what. I secretly hope it’s a brown dog as one of our two had to be put down this fall, but am almost 100% sure it is not.
L
Don’t leave us hanging, did you get the dog??
Deserae
Your talk of Zombies and love reminds me of the movie Warm Bodies with Nicholas Hoult. It would be a perfect movie combo of Zombies and romance. My husband used to order me flowers, but I am whatever is the Valentine’s equivalent of a Scrooge, and finally very, very, tactfully, asked him to stop. I am not into pink or traditional flower arrangements, so it seemed like a bit of a shame to waste the money. That makes me sound like an ungrateful cow, but I don’t mind if he doesn’t remember to do anything else instead. Snacks in front of the TV sounds pretty well perfect to me.
Hanka
Here in Switzerland, we have “La vache qui rit” – and I must always laugh when I see it because from the Czech Republic I know this cheese as “Veselá kráva” (The Merry Cow). Anyway, our kids loved it there, love it here (And I think if we moved to the UK they´d loved it too :))
We don´t celebrate VD with my husband, but he always comes up with a flower saying: “I know we don´t celebrate Valentines, but I thought you´d be sad not getting anything!” The same words every single year, haha. But I love him for this 😀
Katie
Every time my dad eats laughing cow cheese he goes, “mooh , mooh, mooh,” which is supposed to sound like a cow laughing.
Myra Boyle
Sounds pretty romantic to me. I sometimes have laughing cow on toast for breakfast
Porcelina
I’m glad you had snacks, food is the most important part of any celebration. I celebrated on Sunday too, took my husband on a gourmet break. Six courses. Fat and happy. That’s how I like my Valentine’s! Xx
Kim Carnahan
I’m glad I’m not the only person who prefers savory over sweet! My idea of dessert is seconds of the salad or entree. But I do love white almond-flavored wedding cake with buttercream once in awhile!
Lori
I love Laughing Cow cheese!! And I love champagne!! As I don’t cook and my husband does, on valentine’s day he gets the night off and I have to provide dinner. The first few years we were married, I actually did try to cook for him. After 16 years of wedded bliss, I now order in or I take him out. We went to our favorite little Mexican restaurant that is a big 7 minutes from our house. Nothing is too good for my sweetie. I even got him a card.
Miss Kitty
Ooo, cheese! Now there’s something that’s sure to get my heart beating faster! ? Sounds like the very best way to spend Valentine’s Day to me 🙂
D. Johnson
The most optimistic and pleasant way for me to frame Valentine’s Day, in fact, the entire weekend previous to it, is to say that I spent it quietly, at home, and I bought myself a chocolate bar, so there’s that! I met some lovely people while grocery shopping so I didn’t feel lonely and, today, there was a group of attractive men shoveling off a low roof when I went to the pharmacy. It was like a chilly, outdoor show. Nice! (I noticed the sunflower seeds on the plates, and the raisins, but is that chocolate sauce? And what are the tiny red things on the plates?)
Stella Pike
Even toppings looks simple but still it looks mouth watering to me. I am food lover and like to try different kind of food, but out of all I love almost all types of deserts.
Erika
Love Laughing Cow cheeses with crackers, one of my favorite snacks! I’m so lazy with my snack preparation though, and I rarely even make it out of the kitchen before having eaten half of what I’ve made. I’m gonna have to do something about this, as your snack set up looks amazing!