2004? - Or possibly 2003? Graham reminded me today that we've spent more Valentine's Days together than I originally thought. Our first V-Day was actually before we were a couple. He was chasing after me but I was oblivious. Somehow he sneakily managed to go take my sister, our friend Danae and myself all to dinner. Very smooth. We went to the Mongolian Grill because "none of us had other plans" but looking back I'm pretty sure Graham had a hand in orchestrating it all. He didn't pay (because he would have had to pay for all three girls!!) so I guess technically it wasn't a date. Following dinner, we met up with a group of fellow SPUers for mini golf at Bullwinkles. I'm pretty sure I won.
2005 - Technically our first Valentine's Day "together." I told Graham to be ready at 6 AM or some ungodly hour and picked him up before our classes and drove him to a neighborhood on Queen Anne hill where we had a "sunrise" breakfast (in quotations because it was so cloudy there wasn't really a sunrise to be had). I served him hot chocolate, fruit and heart-shaped scones and introduced him to homemade raspberry jam which he now adores. We always joke about this part because the jam jar had an old label on it that never washed off from a prior batch that read "Rasp 1999." Graham called it "Vintage Jam" and barely believed me when I promised the stuff I served him wasn't really that old. Graham returned the romance that evening and took me to a place we think was called The Atrium downtown Seattle. I'm not sure if it is still around but it was up in one of the tall buildings with a nice view. The main reason he chose it was because he had a coupon for it from the entertainment book and when you are a poor college boy, you do what you have to do. Unfortunately, they didn't honor coupons in Valentine's Day so he had to pay full price--oops! I asked him about it today and he said "It was ok because you ordered gnocchi which was pretty cheap." I love that he remembers! :) Then he brought me back to his place for some homemade chocolate fondue. He had candles burning and everything which proceeded to leave smoke stains on the walls--sorry SPU housing! I bought him a CD storage book (you know the kind with all the sleeves to put the CDs in?) and wrote all the things I loved about him on these heart-shaped cards and put them in the pockets. Apparently that was back in the day when I had endless time on my hands.
2006 - This was a hard V-Day as I was in Texas for my internship and we were smack dab in the middle of our year of long distance. Graham sent me a special package that I remember opening in the car outside of the WIC building before I went inside for my rotation. I think the package contained a letter, a CD of burned love songs (a classic Graham gift that I always cherish) and probably some chocolate. He claims there was a book of love poems in there too.
2007 - This year was really memorable. So memorable that neither of us can remember it. We were engaged and must have been deep into wedding planning as we got married the following month. I'm pretty sure this was the year we went out to breakfast at Dish in Fremont. I remember something about red strawberries and whipped cream. Maybe Graham was working the night shift or something? Whatever the case, we couldn't celebrate that evening and so did breakfast instead. That's all we could glean from our fading brains.
2008 - I came across this picture of our Valentine's Day in 2008. Too bad it gives me absolutely zero hint as to how we celebrated except that apparently we drove in the car! :) I'm pretty sure this was the year that we decided to go down to Pike Place Market and buy all the ingredients for a fancy, make-it-yourself Valentine's Day dinner. We bought fresh pasta, scallops and mushrooms and made one of our all time favorite dishes: Seared Scallops with Portobello Mushroom and Truffle Emulsion (apparently our Valentine's tradition as it also made an appearance on our 2011 menu pictured below).
2009 - I remember this evening pretty well, mostly because I was beyond exhausted which is probably why I didn't think to take pictures. I was early in my pregnancy with Isla and, as is tradition in our house, we were a little behind the eight ball on making reservations for the big night. Sooooo, when we finally got around to it, the only option left at our restaurant of choice, Brad's Swingside Cafe, was 9:30 PM. We should have just said "forget it" and stayed home but apparently that didn't feel right either. It was a work night for Graham and I remember feeling ready for bed before he even arrived home at 7:30. I made some appetizers to enjoy (mostly just to keep me awake!) until it was time to go to dinner and we ended up having a lovely time out. What sticks out in my memory the most is that, in my naivety, I asked the waiter if the pasta sauce was simmered for a long time because wine was listed as an ingredient and I was absolutely paranoid that it might hurt the baby. I'm sure he probably left our table laughing his head off on the inside.
Graham was in the middle of an unbelievably busy week with school, work and church so hadn't even had a spare second to think about V-day. I was really shocked when he came home, gift in hand with a sweet card and these lovely silver lace earrings
Wow, impressive! I'm not sure I can remember any of our valentines days! Hmm...maybe I'll have to go look through pics. I know I was pregnant for our 1st 2 as a married couple and then last year...hmm...no idea.
ReplyDeleteI might have to steal your menu for this years date. :)