Valentine's Day is just around the corner!

Valentine’s Day is a scant two weeks away and already the thoughts of doing something special for my wife if bouncing around in my head. As a romantic holiday, Valentine’s Day often includes gifts of roses and chocolates. La Place Rendezvous and La Flambé each have created their own special romantic menu.
I usually stumble about the kitchen on the weekend preceding the day and try and create something unique and with a special chocolate dessert. I try to create a meal with romantic over tones. Asparagus, chocolate, fresh figs, oysters, raspberries, strawberries and a glass or two of wine are all woven into the menu.
St. Valentine was actually a Roman priest who was arrested and imprisoned for marrying Christian couples during the reign of Claudius II. Helping Christians at the time was considered a crime.
Today the crime is probably not trying to be romantic with your spouse.
One of my biggest shocks on Valentine's Day was having a single red rose delivered to me at work. I guess a guy getting a rose from his wife is really uncommon, and I proudly displayed it on my desk for almost a week. It put a spring in my step that year. But it was the surprise of the moment that made it special.
Perhaps that is what can be fun about Valentine’s Day…, the surprise, the unexpected night away from home, or discovering a card on the seat of your car as you leave for work early in the morning.
One of the legends of Valentine's Day goes back to an old English belief that birds began mating around February 14 and that popular notion helped strengthen the belief that Valentine’s Day should be a celebration of love and romance.
The idea grew and lovers began exchanging love notes and flowers. Today we write fewer love notes, but we replace those with loving romantic cards that are displayed in card shops. It wasn’t until the late eighteenth century that manufactured cards were available. Then they were all delivered by hand. It was in the nineteenth century that mail was used to deliver romantic cards for Valentine’s Day. Then the recipient had to pay for the postage.
In the modern era, those cards are being replaced with electronic cards delivered through the Internet.
Oh how sending a card has become so much simpler.
Nothing has replaced that romantic candle light supper away from the kids and the confusion of the household.
That intimate supper, soft music in the background, with just the two of you is what romance is all about. Alone, with great food, the romance of the relationship can blossom once again.
Perhaps that is what Valentine’s Day is all about…. Rediscovering your partner, and making the time to say to someone “I love you”.

–Jim Cumming,
Publisher