Hello, beauties!
As some of you may or may not know, Valentine’s Day is quickly approaching. I know my newsfeed on Facebook and timeline on Twitter have been inundated with people sharing Valentine’s Day tips, tricks, traditions, etc., etc. and I’m sorry, but I’m about to be one of THOSE people. I thought it would be fun to share a tradition that’s worked out quite well (for the most part) for my boyfriend and I over the past few years. It involves pizza and beer, so keep reading!
While I do love chick flicks, wine, chocolate, flowers and the whole nine, I don’t expect all of that from my boyfriend on Valentine’s Day or any other day for that matter (not that I’d turn any of it down if he offered, though, obvi). When we started dating almost four years ago, we were both pretty new to the dating world (as in, we’re each other’s first serious relationships. But more on that later), and we just wanted to keep things simple for Valentine’s Day. I can’t remember how the idea came to us, but we decided to avoid the masses and stay home to make a pizza and watch a movie. Now I can’t imagine doing anything else!
As easy as making a pizza sounds, there is a bit of trial and error that we encountered. Every year. But that’s what makes it so fun! On our first Valentine’s Day together, we decided to try to make a heart-shaped pizza with various meat and veggie toppings. That was easier said than done, at least for us cooking rookies. It wasn’t until after we got the pizza dough on the cookie sheet that we realized the cookie sheet was too big for the small oven in his apartment. Being a fearless male (and probably trying to impress me a little bit, who knows) he decided that it would be a good idea to just prop up the cookie sheet because then we could just shut the oven door and it would be fine…yeah. That went about as well as you would imagine.
The result before we put it in the oven. The first time.
After spending a few minutes in the oven at an angle, this happened.
Luckily we only left the pizza at that angle for a few minutes, but some of the damage was already done. We were able to salvage the pizza and move it to a different, smaller cookie sheet, and it still turned out to be delicious. Then we popped in a chick flick (probably. I honestly don’t remember, but he probably humored me and let us watch “The Notebook” or something because he’s pretty sweet), ate our pizza and drank some beer (actually, I probably had wine. At this point I still thought beer tasted and smelled gross. And some beer still does!). It was simple, yet so fun and magical. So the tradition had started!
Every year we make basically the same pizza but with slight variation in the toppings, and we just sit on the couch, eating and watching a chick flick. It’s so simple and easy, and we always at least slightly mess up one part of the process, so it makes for some interesting antidotes. We always have a blast working in the kitchen together, and then it’s just nice to sit down, relax and enjoy each other’s company. We typically exchange small gifts, but that’s not what Valentine’s Day should be about anyway. It should be about enjoying time with someone you love (even if that’s you. Treat yo’ self!).
This year we’re going to make another pizza, but instead of watching a chick flick, we’re going to see Beauty and the Beast, the play, at one of the local high schools, and I can’t wait!
What are your current or favorite Valentine’s Day traditions?
