WHAT MATTERS MOST ON VALENTINES DAY

I have always thought of Valentines Day to be the most romantic day of the year. Well, when I was still that idealistic young girl... I thought it should be like that... until Valentines Day 2005. I didn't have a date and I didn't even try to make plans for myself - like celebrate my singleness at that time. By the spur of the moment, my good friend Kizzy and I decided we would walk up and down Session Road in Baguio City and count how many people are holding on to V-DAY ESSENTIALS, namely: roses, chocolates, gift, and a DATE. We saw some friends and some familiar faces and we had a lot of fun. That valentine night I learned that the big deal about valentines is spending it with the one you love, no matter how or where or what you do about the occasion. I love Kizzy - she's one of my best girlfriends. And most of all - I learned to love myself!

FAST FORWARD TO VALENTINES DAY 2009

This is Carl and mine's first valentines day as a married couple. I made a plan and I know he did too. I planned for a gorgeous pancake breakfast with strawberry syrup. I know Carl is always amazed by what I prepare on the table, so this time I thought I'd include him in the preparation... I was starting to prep the pancake ingredients when he asked me to go for a morning walk first...then we'll make pancakes when we get back... I said ok, and headed to our door...

Then this was what happened next...

I've been playing around with my camera lately...
Here's one!

The pancake idea failed. I got really frustrated because I wanted to shape them like hearts but the batter was too soupy. It was probably the milk's fault - instead of 3/4 cup I put 1 cup. I tried to "repair" my pancake batter by adding more flour - tadah! NO MORE FLOUR! I tried my luck and added cake mix to substitute the flour. It was already ten o'clock. As I attempted my third pancake, Carl told me we had to be ready by 11:ooam because Jasmine and Scott are driving us to town. I gave him THE LOOK - I felt like, there I was trying so hard to make heartshaped pancakes for valentines brunch...and there he was telling me to drop all my plans because we have to work with his sister and future brother-in-law's schedule. I was furious inside. I gave up on my pancakes... I poured the batter down the drain...I was upset. I opened the TV and watched Ace of Cakes on Food Network.

11:30 and there was no sign of Jasmine and Scott - not even a call. I asked Carl if he wanted to eat lunch at home or still wait for our company. He said he was getting hungry...I made lunch. This wasn't in my plan - but I worked my magic though... I stared at the fridge for about two minutes - I took out some honey ham, a chicken thigh, bean sprouts, and chinese cabbage. I decided to make Ham & Chicken Wrap (without the cheese) and Garlic Bean Sprouts.

Here's us preparing for our Valentine Lunch

Finished Product!

We finally got a call from our company and they were picking us up at around 2:oopm. We got ready - but we didn't get ready for the appropriate activity. All these time we thought we heading straight to town. Little did we know that we were going to take a dip in the water first. TADAH - SURPRISE SURPRISE. You know me, I don't really like sudden twist. When Jasmine came with the "we're going to go swimming at Hukilau" announcement, I tried to be calm and just asked for extra five minutes to change into my swimming suit.

Here's a couple of pictures we had... We went swimming with Jasmine, Scott, Mike (Scott's brother), and April (our good friend)

The waves were awesome...

... and I must admit, this unplanned swimming activity swept some of my upset feelings away. The waves probably took them back to the sea! 

After that cool swim, I knew we were definitely going to town right after. We gave ourselves an hour to dry ourselves and get ready for our dinner dates. Jasmine and Scott made plans to see the Boyz II Men concert at Blaisdell in Honolulu...and Carl and I planned to be dropped off at our dinner destination, then meet up again by midnight. When they came to pick us up at our house, I wasn't ready yet. I got too caught up on choosing a dinner destination. Our choices were: Assaggio, Romano's Macaroni Grill, Tanaka of Tokyo, Tsukiji, Dave & Busters, Red Lobster, and Old Spaghetti Factory. We decided we wanted to dine at Red Lobster. When we got to the car, Jasmine told us we're all heading to Waipahu to eat at Max's! I looked at my husband...and he knew what to do. Besides, if we go all the way to the west side, they might miss the concert...So we headed to Honolulu and I started to daydream about Red Lobster.


We thought we'll be saved from the LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waiting lines at the restaurants. We were wrong. We couldn't afford to wait that long because Jasmine and Scott decided to eat with us and they can't be late for the concert. We gave up Red Lobster and drove to Ala Moana. Again, LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG waiting lines at Romano's, Assaggio, Ruby Tuesdays, and Bubba Gump. Jasmine was really hungry already - all she had for the day was a power bar. Carl and I had lunch so we were fine. As for Scott, maybe he was trying to skip meals intentionally.


So anyway...we ended up having dinner at Ala Moana's Makai Market. Yup, the food court. After going around twice, We tried Mama's Spaghetti House. I had Seafood Supreme with Caesar Salad and Carl had Bay Shrimp Pasta. (We still had the Red Lobster hangover...). It wasn't bad at all - we were full! And I really enjoyed my pasta because it had Capers. They were like green peas but smaller and more olive in color. When you bite them, they burst in your mouth and you get all the wonderful flavors of the sea! I swear - I probably told Carl how happy I was with the capers hundred times that night! Anyway, after dinner we took a stroll to Ward Cinemas. We watched the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic - and we had a blast!


So there...none of the things we really planned happened on Valentines Day. But so what? I was reminded of the lesson I learned four years ago - Spend the day with the one you love, it doesn't matter how, where or what you do about the occasion. And I learned something new... heart-shaped pancakes are not exclusive to Valentines Day breakfast because you can make anyday, Valentines Day!

Spread the Love!