Dear Kim - thanks for dropping by again! I really appreciate it :) I was so touched/moved by how you share the holiday and have not forgotten it. My bf and I will be celebrating the day and I will be making either a Chinese menu (because of the lunar new year) or an Italian one, or maybe a mish-mosh not really sure yet :) I'm leaning towards a light pasta dish with green salad and chocolate dessert, but J wants a repeat of the yee sang I made last year :) We'll see :) We have decided to incorporate elements of your celebration as well but it will just be the two of us :) (this Sunday is also Carnival Sunday). Hopefully this can be a new tradition on our end :) Thanks for checking up on us!

Hi Serina
Can you believe it? Nearly a year has passed since Valentine's Day 2009.
As the day is approaching fast and I'm in the middle of composing my poem to read to my wife, I remembered writing to you and wondered if you will be celebrating the day this year and if you have any suggestions of menus or recipes.
I hope you have a wonderful day on Sunday.
Best wishes.

It didn't print the format well. I can't get it to indent.
The name and address of the venue is indented, as is the attendees and the summary.

Woops, things didn't print exactly as I had typed it and I made a typo.
Typo: It should have been, "red roses for the ladies".
The format for the entries (trying again)
14 February [Year] Name and address of the venue
[Day] Attendees: Name of each couple
A short summary of the evening

I hope it prints better this time. Fingers crossed.

Of course you may, Sarina. I hope next year, and the following years, you have a wonderful time.

Two things I forgot to mention:

We always decorate the table with something red (like red rose petals, red-wrapped chocolates, red balloons, red stars, red roses for te ladies, buttonholes for the men [at different times]), and

In 1997 I purchased a lovely picture book on Love which had plenty of space around the entries. In this space I get written by a calligrapher a short note on the evening in the following format:
14 February Name and address of the venue
Attendees: Name of each couple
One line per couple
A short summary of the evening, giving the
highlights.

Sometimes I get the couples to sign the book at the bottom of the page on which the notes will be written. On one occasion the summary was so long (it was a very romantic evening and a lot happened) that I had to print the notes on a computer, print them and mount it in the book like in scrapbooking.
I also take our book along on Valentine's Day to reminisce.
BTW, when you write in the address of the venue, we have found it looks nicer and more sophisticated to leave out the street number.

Talking of scrapbooking, which wasn't around when I started this book, today, if I was starting out, I would definitely go with a scrapbooking approach.

I hope this gives you a few more ideas, which have worked well.

omg Kim! This brought tears to my eyes :) Thanks so much for sharing! May I borrow this tradition? :D

Sheena said, "i am absolutely opposed to valentine’s day."
Maybe the following will change her mind, assuming she has a partner. In 1992 I put into practice an idea of mine to hold a romantic dinner to celebrate Valentine's Day. I invited two other couples who I thought were romantically inclined and we went to a restaurant and during the dinner, each person read out a love message to their wife/husband/partner. My wife and I tend to write poems for each other. Others have read famous, and sometimes not-so-famous, love poems, others have read prose, drawn pictures, one played an excerpt from a recorded interview of Katherine Hepburn talking about her love for Spencer Tracy, and one even sang a song! This 14th February, there were four couples and we had a great night. My wife, who loves poetry and belongs to a poetry group, wrote me the most beautiful haiku.
As we do this every year, it renews the romantic side of our marriage, especially as it has to be said out-loud in front of others. The whole evening, every year for the past 17 years, has been an enormous and memorable success.

Elspeth - :lol:

Sheena - aw thanks :) i'm in the middle of making dinner right now actually :lol:

wow. i am absolutely opposed to valentine's day, but if celebrating would mean i could enjoy that mango cake, i'd change my ways in a heartbeat.

your blog makes me wish it were dinner-time.

Where there is food there is a blog. Ha! I can see it now ...