February 26, 2013

Home-Cooked Meals for Valentines Day 2013 ♥

Feb 14, 2013- How we spent our Valentines Day 


Last year, we had a fancy dinner at the Oakroom to celebrate Valentines Day. This year, we decided to just stay at home so as to avoid the heavy traffic. 

Since we weren't going out, I thought maybe we could just cook dinner at home and prepare our own version of a romantic dinner set menu. 

After all the brainstorming and utilizing the ingredients we have at home, we finally came up to a pretty decent 4-course meal.


For starters, we made this Trio of Appetizers- Salmon Sashimi, Marinated Chicken Teppan and Chawan Mushi w/ Shrimp Cocktail


We had some salmon in the freezer so I decided to make a Sashimi out of it. It may not look as good as the one served in Japanese restaurants, but I'm pretty sure it tasted the same. 

For the chicken teppan, I experimented on three kinds of marinade- Coffee, Java and Honey Mustard BBQ Sauce. I marinated them overnight so that the flavors would seep in. Our favorite was the BBQ flavor.

Lastly, I wanted to do a shrimp cocktail on a shot glass but since the first two appetizers were both Japanese-inspired, we decided to make a Chawan Mushi instead. Of course, I still pushed through with my shrimp cocktail. :) 

For our soup, I prepared Cream of Mushroom while D brought a Creamy Pumpkin Soup. I have to give him all the credit as mine was from the can and his was made from scratch. 


I call this main course as Seafood Duo. It's basically a duo of Buttered Prawn and Pan-Fried Cream Dory Fillet on a bed of chayote and squash. I also placed a slice of orange as garnish and some drizzles of sweet chili sauce on the side. 


I wanted to prepare another main dish but since I couldn't find any beef or pork in the fridge, I settled for fish again. I simply call this dish Spaghetti w/ Tomatoes and Cod. To make the sauce, I first sauteed lots of onion and garlic then added some peeled tomatoes from the can.. tossed it with the cooked pasta, seasoned it with salt and pepper, topped it with pan fried cod fish and tada! Spaghetti w/ Tomatoes and Cod


I was so exhausted after all those cooking and the last thing I need was a glass of fancy wine. We skipped on that and had this refreshing icy cold Apple Juice instead. I was so thirsty I think I downed a glass even before we started eating. 


Lastly, we made this Fruit Bowl of pineapple, apple, orange and strawberry for dessert. Good thing Valentines Day was just a few days after Chinese New Year so we had lots of fruits at home. 


The whole preparation and cooking took us hours while our actual dinner took an hour or less only. Now I know why other couples are willing to take the hassle of joining the Vday rush. It was really tiring but I'm proud to say we pulled it off successfully. It was also a memorable experience for us and at least our Valentines date had a personal touch to it. Til the next Valentines Day!♥♥♥

11 comments:

  1. Nice plating, Berylle! :) Glad you had an awesome date at home. :)

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  2. thanks @michymichymoo:disqus :)

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  3. this is so sweet, especially if the two of you prepared these together. :)

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  4. Love the plating! Parang fine dining na =)

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  5. All of these look so good! It *does* look like dinner at a fine dining restuarant. :)

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  6. KittykatmiyawMarch 14, 2013

    I like home cooked meals! What a nice way to spend valentines!

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  7. Richelle MolonApril 04, 2014

    Wow! Im a newbie follower. Im not sure if you're a Chef or is it D. Nonetheless, great meals and great idea as well to stay at home during the V-day. I mean, D is around plus great food. What else, right?

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  8. sherry ann gole cruzApril 12, 2014

    love the menu,hope you could post the recipe,thank you in advance :)

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  9. Kikay MuchMay 12, 2014

    i love shrimp, yummy nice date. I love cooking for my loves...

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  11. Karole MandapMarch 21, 2015

    This is really helpful to me since I love cooking too :)

    ReplyDelete

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