Recipes for an actually fun Valentine's Day
plus a gift guide for the girls
This may come as no shock to you, but I think you should spend Valentine’s or Galentine’s (or any old winter night, quite frankly) getting together with your friends, eating good food, and making clay magnets. Or, if you want to do something romantic, I think the move is staying in and making fresh pasta al limone, and maybe a steak, or a big green salad. When I worked in restaurants, people often referred to Valentine’s Day as amateur night— a sentiment that’s sort of snobbish and annoying, but does bare some truth. What they meant was that guests tend to act a little weird on Valentine’s Day. They just do. Like it’s their first day on earth or they just don’t totally get the drill. On the guest side of that interaction, I think that going out to eat on Valentine’s Day can often feel sort of rushed. Like the servers are stressed out because they need your table back like now. The experience lacks a certain something that makes going out to eat actually fun and relaxing on any other night of the year.
Personally, I’d enjoy myself way more staying home and making pasta from scratch while sipping a Negroni. This pasta al limone is great because the ingredients are limited and tagliatelle doesn’t require a pasta machine if you don’t have one. I can picture the romantic montage now—a puff of flour landing on your nose, showing the other how to mix the dough, a little music on in the background. Now we’re talking! It’s the perfect way to spend an evening. If, while you’re at it, you want to buy yourself, your sweet heart, or one of your friends a little gift (or maybe you just want to send this post to someone you love to get their mind working…) well, that’s your business. And if you prefer to keep Valentine’s Day a little more low key, any of these activities would make for such a nice solo night at home. However, you celebrate, I hope you enjoy yourself and feel loved.
Recipe for a girl’s night in:
Invite some friends over, get comfy, put on Olivia Dean (what else?) and order in, or make focaccia pizzas and focaccia cinnamon rolls. Do a craft like (oh I don’t know) clay magnets (here’s the kit) and have a cocktail or a glass of wine. Doesn’t that sound sort of heavenly? I’m posting a recipe for focaccia pan pizzas later in the week, I just wanted to get this post up first so you weren’t scrambling to order something if that’s what you want to do. Cinnamon roll focaccia would also be such a good DIY gift, now that I think about it!
Recipe for a romantic night in:
Put on some crooners (here’s the playlist), make yourself a Negroni and get to work making pasta al limone from scratch. This is the sort of dish that’s actually really simple to make but tastes like something you’d order at a restaurant.
Creature comforts:
J Crew oversized rollneck sweater in white. I size up to a large for an extra cozy fit.
Bink water bottle in this delicious bubblegum pink. I’ve had this water bottle for a couple years now and it’s great because the wide opening and the fact that it’s glass make it very easy to clean. Plus the color. It’s perfect.
Tarte hydrating balm gloss in Rose. All of the colors are pretty and natural, but the formula is what makes this particularly good. It’s a mixture between a lipstick, a balm, and a gloss. It’s shiny and natural looking but the color is more substantial than a balm or a gloss.
A pretty little trinket dish. In my opinion, this is the perfect gift and you can always find them at thrift or vintage stores. I found some really cute ones on Etsy like this one with florals, this ceramic seashell, or any number of crystal ones on there.
Sezane basic t-shirt with their initials embroidered. Sezane offers free embroidery on their button downs and t shirts. I have one with my husband’s initials embroidered on it in thin red cursive and it’s my favorite one to wear. It’s subtle but special.
Very good p.j.’s. I love Gap pajamas. They’re soft and cozy and I find that they’re true to size to ever so slightly roomy.
For the kitchen:
Dish towels from William Sonoma. These are my favorite ones of all time and it’s always nice to get a fresh set.
Scoop and freeze chocolate chip cookie dough so that yourself or whoever is lucky enough to be on the receiving end here, can bake a fresh one off whenever they please. I love to scoop mine with an actual cookie scoop like this one. I think they look extra professional and do look better once baked. Bonus professionalism points for packing them in delis (quart containers like these work best) labeled with a piece of tape that has the baking instructions. Masking tape or painters tape is what most restaurants use for labelling containers and the most common colors are tan, blue, or lime green. But, you can buy masking tape in many colors. I particularly like baby blue (you can find it here).
Handmade ceramic mug for coffee at home. You can find so many cute ones like this on Etsy.
The scoop I mentioned earlier. This one is 2 oz which makes the perfect sized cookie.
A good set of steak knives feels like such a luxury and owning them makes me feel very much like an elegant woman of the world. These Laguiole are a French classic. You can choose from lots of different colored handles and the blades are a heavy stainless steel. They stay sharp and feel nice in the hand. A very good gift, in my opinion.
A leather notebook cover. I talked about these in my January wrapped post, but this pink and red one is really speaking to me right now.
The best thermos I have ever used. It comes in 2 sizes, fits perfectly in a car cup holder, and seals so tightly you never have to worry about it in your bag. 10/10 and I really like this ice-y blue color.