A Lovely Valentine!

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Sugar is sweet 

And so are You

Will you be my Valentine?

Do you remember writing poems like the one above, when you were younger? I used to buy Valentine cards that have such sayings and give them out to my classmates in elementary and middle school.For my close friends, I included heart candies in the envelopes. It was easy to please your Valentine at that age. Now older and wiser, Valentine's Day is a bit more elaborate; it's all about wining and dining your date. How can you outdo the previous year's experience? I chose to lay low this year and had dinner with a friend over the weekend. We had a wonderful dinner followed by a couple of desserts. The first was carrot halwa which he made from scratch and didn't follow a recipe. It was pretty good for his first try. The second were cupcakes from Magnolia's Bakery from NYC. So many sweet celebrations! However, my Valentine's dining did not end there.  

Since I am now living with my parents, I wanted them to have a pleasant Valentine's too. At first I thought of sending the both off to a nice restaurant but Valentine's fell on a Monday and they both had to work the next day. So I hurried home after work, and prepped for an evening of cooking by none other than myself. Don't worry, I didn't poison them. I've had years of experience cooking for my sister when we were living together and she's never complained. I can cook a mean Chinese fried rice, mushroom risotto and curry puffs.
Anyways, I decided to keep it simple and make something right from our blog. Even though my parents love trying new cuisines, they always yearn for good ol' Indian cooking much much more.

I went the whole nine yards and made Aloo Parathas from scratch and we ate them with raita. My dad chipped in and helped me roll out the parathas and toast them on the pan. For dessert, I made chocolate covered strawberries which were served with dessert wine. Oh by the way, I forgot to mention that my dad surprised my mom with a exquisite Japanese Ikebana flower arrangement. 

Quite stunning and intricate, I must say!

 Overall, the evening turned out well and my parents enjoyed themselves. Dinner Accomplished, woohoo!