Image by: ‘Shagamaroo’
Until two years ago, I was a typical twenty-something spending Valentine’s Day with my girl-friends getting slowly tiddly and eating fast food while watching horror films where the ‘hotty’ dies at the end. Then I met my boyfriend and, honestly, not much changed.
I’m not ‘against’ or ‘for’ spending one specific day loving the person you love just that little bit more than, apparently, you do any other day. In fact, I’m especially fond of one particular Valentine’s custom – excessive eating.
Aphrodisiac garlic, anyone?
With every tradition however, there has to be a downside, and Valentine’s Day definitely encounters a few problems where aphrodisiacs are concerned. At the top of the list are asparagus, oysters and garlic – Otherwise known as foods that have an allure of eroticism to their purpose, but that you generally wouldn’t want yourself or your partner to go near on a night which you’re hoping will end in the bedroom.
A girl’s best friend
If I’m being honest, Valentine’s Day is all about chocolate. It’s a wonderful thing. It’s notoriously known to provoke a chemical reaction in the body akin to the feelings of love and lust.Whether you’re with your friends, your boyfriend or yourself, it’s always a winning choice.
Single gal Vs Coupledom
Gather your friends together, put on a trashy CD, open a bottle of vodka and bake a Devil’s Food Cake big enough for a whole family. All you need is chocolate, sugar, water, butter, flour and eggs (alongside the most imperative ingredient, the icing) – and you have yourself something you and the girls don’t even have to use cutlery for. Just tuck in and get messy!
Surprise your boyfriend, or maybe he could surprise you, with that old romantic classic – strawberries dipped in chocolate. You can do this with milk, dark and even white chocolate. Just dip the strawberries in and leave to refrigerate for 30 minutes. He’ll be eating out of the palm of your hand, literally.
Have some you- time
For yourself, arguably the most important person in your life, I’d suggest making some mouth-watering, double chocolate chip cookies with even more chocolate dribbling from the centre. Indulge yourself to the point where you lick the spoon and the bowl (but maybe not the table cloth) and, best of all, eat every single one yourself without feeling that guilty ping as jealous eyes stick to you like glue.
Nevertheless, what we all need to keep in mind as the lengthy 24 hours of February 14th approaches us and we’re exposed to way too much PDA, is that Valentine’s Day is largely meaningless. It’s a day for consumerism galore and pretty much everyone you see with a giant ‘I Love You’ balloon and a ‘Be Mine’ lollypop will be laughing at St Valentine and his incredibly peculiar choice of gifts by February 15th!
Have you got any special Valentines plans? Any romantic recipes to share
Featured images:
License: Creative Commons image source
About The Author
Beki Kidwell is a Welsh graduate in English Literature and Creative Writing with a broad and more than often sarcastic outlook on the world today. She writes for Wipe Easy Tablecloths.