Happy Valentine's Day!

To celebrate Valentine's Day last year, Nick and I went for a kebab at a street food stall near the flat. I like to think that this perfectly sums up our approach to anything Valentines related, but this year we perhaps did even better.

We invited two other couples to join us for dinner at the flat on Saturday night, half because we were keen to catch up with them all, and half to help ensure that there was nothing Valentines focused about the night at all!

The only nod to the occasion was the card that Nick presented me with on Saturday morning. I gave him a card themed around bacon puns “Don’t go bacon my heart – I couldn’t if I fried” whilst he gave me a slightly soppy card filled with this cracker:

"Flower die and chocolate melts, but my tolerance of you will last a touch longer."

Ridiculous cards exchanged, it was time to get on with our dinner planning and flat cleaning. First up I took a jaunt through Little India and over to Tekka, the stinky wet market that I can only bring myself to visit first thing in the morning when the smells of the meat, fish, veggies and fruit blended together and enhanced due to the heat and lack of air-conditioning is not too overpowering.  It’s often quite a challenge to get through the shop without letting the stench overpower me, but at least it makes for a couple of pretty pictures, and it’s less than half the price of super market shopping to boot, so whenever I can make it over there, I do!

 

Wandering through Little India 

Hungry? 

Tekka in Action 

Tekka in action 

There followed a lovely day of prepping, cleaning and cooking, ready to host dinner. Kev and Jules were responsible for starters, bringing along a choice of three dishes for us to work through (crab cakes, asparagus and mini Greek salads). Nick and I put together homemade chicken kievs with mashed potatoes and green beans for mains, and Dan and Felicia brought a delicious lemon and blueberry cake to round things off.

            The evening went on longer and later than really necessary, as it always does when we entertain people at our house, but it was a great night, and an idea way to pass Valentine's day almost unacknowledged.