No Reservations Required: Celebrating Valentine’s Day At Home
February 12th, 2008 @ 5:30 pm by Mrs. Bell Pepper
I checked my call schedule for this month and realized that I’m on-call on Valentine’s Day! Blah. 
I guess I wasn’t too disappointed about having to miss out on Valentine’s Day because we decided to celebrate a little earlier over this weekend by staying home and cooking some of our favorite dishes together.
Inspiration for our dinner preparation came from the movie Mostly Martha. If you’re familiar with No Reservations, Mostly Martha happens to be the original movie. It’s a perfect movie if you and your fiance/husband are passionate about food and want a romantic comedy to watch over dinner.
Mr. Bell Pepper surprised me with a large bouquet of pink flowers, they’re all so pretty! I used a few of the flowers from this bouquet to make the floral heart arrangement seen above and below (an easy diy centerpiece for a bridal shower).
As for our dinner, we prepared three dinner entrees: Jamie Oliver’s Blackened Pork Tenderloin, Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Bacon, Sage and Gruyere Cheese (w/ some substitutions), and my recipe of Sweet Paprika and Crushed Peppercorn Shrimp. Mr. Bell Pepper helped me peel the shrimp and marinade the pork tenderloin as I prepared the sweet potato gnocchi from scratch. Our final dinner revealed below, it looks delicious!
For dessert we decided to relax and simply purchase individual desserts from Wegman’s. They were so delicious and I especially loved the toasted marshmallow and the chocolate cappuccino cup.
Our entire dinner was fabulous and we had so much fun cooking together, it’s definitely something we look forward to doing again for Valentine’s Day next year or in the near future.
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26 Responses to “No Reservations Required: Celebrating Valentine’s Day At Home”
can i just say how jealous i am that you have wegmans?! we are SO deprived in texas… =(
Your Valentine’s plans sound nice and cozy! Our plans are usually homeward bound as well but this year, my sweet boyfriend surprised me with tickets to Avenue Q on Broadway! T
(whoops, pressed enter before I finished my comment!) To escape the Valentine’s rush, though, we’re going into the city on Friday instead of Thursday.
That looks like an incredible meal! I’m impressed with your floral arrangement too. We go to the same restaurant every year, but usually the day or the weekend after V-Day, so we’re not there on the same night as all the other V-Day couples.
I’ve got school on Thursdays, and to make it even more fun, the husband returns from a conference at 6am after a 5-hour red-eye, so he’ll be a bundle o’ fun, I’m sure. But we hope to do something next weekend–maybe a Watson’s Adventure, first seen here on weddingbee!
We’ll be cooking at home– maybe a vegetarian version of your sweet potato gnocchi. Thanks for the inspiration!
Sorry you’re on call on V-Day, but maybe you’ll help save the life of someone’s sweetheart that night, and that’s a pretty romantic thing to do.
My mom is coming into town (yippee!) to help me with wedding planning, so the three of us: me, mom and Fi are going to dinner. Not to oromantic, but filled with lots of love!
I think we must be one of the very few couples that refuse to celebrate Valentine’s day. We don’t need a special day to say “I love you” to each other, or to go out for a special romantic meal. We make sure we do that all year long
My guy works second shift, so I won’t be able to see him on Valentine’s Day, but I am going with a couple of other wedding vendors to see 27 Dresses.
I have no idea, as he won’t tell me… I do know that it won’t be actually on V-Day, but on Friday night. We usually end up a day late or early, as we like to pick the day when we have the most time to celebrate rather than trying to have a romantic evening on a weeknight when we have to get up early in the morning… And his ex will have the kids on Friday night!! (Love the kids, but much more romantic without them.)
After waitressing for several years, I am beyond done with V-day. So my FH and I usually cook dinner together. Last year, I bought him a blender so we make margeritas and tacos. I put on my bikini and cranked up the heat. Kinda like being in Mexico.
You and Snowpea always amaze me with your Martha Stewartlike skillz… your meal looks yummy! and love the flowers!
I guess for us it’s just an excuse to have fun eating our or cooking together at home. The great thing is that around V-Day there are so many varieties of roasted meat, chocolate and flowers available around this time of year. It’s hard not to enjoy a dinner around V-day because there are so many tempting options out there.
i’m with mrs. emerald, seriously between you and mrs. snowpea you both could give martha a run for her money! and i thought i was getting fancy cuz i make risotto. lol.
the bf and i are long distance so we spend v-day on the phone together but that’s always time well spent so i’m looking forward to it!
We are celebrating at home again this year. We have ordered the “cupid’s special” from LobsterGram.com ~ it’s soooo delicious, easy and romantic! This is our second year celebrating this way and we love it!
we’re headed out - my boss had tickets to the LA chamber orchestra that she couldn’t use, so she gave them to me! normally we just hang out, have dinner together, because we’re homebodies, so it’ll be fun to go out this year.
We also will celebrate in. We like to do this every year. We get all dressed up and make a “gourmet” meal. This year it’s his turn to cook! yeah!
We stayed in for Valentine’s last year and it was just lovely! Enjoy
i’ll be spending Vday at home. alone.
*sniff*
FI moved to Pittsburgh 6 months now……the first 2 months of our engagement has been long distance.
sometimes its ok, but lately, it has sucked much.
we did send each other love packages. neither one of us will be getting out packages the day of, but at least they are on their way! lol…..
We’re also long distance, but we’ll see each other next week, just in time to celebrate our 5th anniversary together! Since we’ll be together next week, we just sent cards for Valentine’s. Instead, I’m having an Anti-Valentine’s party for my (mostly single) friends. When I sent out the invite, one of my friends IMed me to make sure that I wasn’t having relationship problems! 
We’re both in the dorm and rather short on cash, so I’m kicking my parents out of their house and cooking dinner for us.
Hi Mrs. Bell Pepper
I was wondering if I could pick your brain on some of the vendors you used for your wedding.
Thanks a bunch!
Hi Indigo,
Please send me a private message or give me a way to contact you via e-mail.
Thanks.
Goodie! My email address is psilovethis@gmail.com.
Thank you!
Hi Mrs. Bell Pepper,
You wedding was unbelievable- absolutely gorgeous! Doctor?!? You should be a wedding planner!!! Haha…
Anyway, I was wondering if you could let me know where you found all of the jars for your candy table? Also, where did you find the little flowers attached to your gold “Love is Sweet” sign and the pink glitter flower attached to one of the jars.
Thanks! Your blog is great!
Lisa
Mrs. Bell Pepper, Philadelphia
Age and Occupation: 28, Resident Physician
Fiance's Age and Occupation: 30, Resident Physician
Engagement Date: May 30, 2006
Wedding Date: June 2007
Venue: Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts
About Me: I love whimsical details and design, everything that *sparkles*, sipping on hazelnut lattes, pugs, shopping for antiques and second-hand goods, scenic photography, delicate flowers, and checking out new restaurants in the city with my fianc??. We are planning our wedding at a unique city venue for about 75 close family members and friends. I have a lot of DIY ideas and I like to blog about ways to save money on your wedding.
At a restaurant - mainly because we eat at home all the time. Plus, I don’t think he’s seen me in a dress since the wedding 5 months ago :-O !!