My husband, Mike, and I celebrated our very first Valentine’s Day as a couple in 1994. I was a senior in high school and he just graduated and was in college. I had a huge crush on him, ever since 7th grade, but we finally started dating on Christmas Eve in 1993.
It’s kinda funny; the day that we ran into each other at the mall, after not seeing each other for a while since he wasn’t in high school anymore, I was with my mom and had just finished a photoshoot at The Bon Marché. Mike was there with a friend and I noticed that he had shoulder-length hair. I was not a fan. Still, I had such a huge crush on him since junior high that I didn’t care. We exchanged numbers and started talking again.
Fast Forward to Valentine's Day of 1994
He picked me up at my high school, a dozen roses in hand. I was so excited to see him with the bouquet, but I noticed he seemed a bit upset and I didn’t understand why. If you know Mike, he is one of the most easy-going guys around, so this behavior was really out of character for him.
Well, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day and showing grand gestures of affection, he cut his hair for me. I was so busy gushing over the roses that I failed to notice. Still, to this day, that first Valentine’s Day held the best Valentine’s Day present ever. It is one I will never forget. Once we were married and started raising our own family, we realized how hard it was to find a babysitter for Valentine’s Day without putting someone out. If we did manage to find someone, it was so hard to get a table at a restaurant and actually enjoy our date night. Pretty sure everyone raises their prices on Valentine’s Day too, so there’s that as well. Being a holiday, most restaurants raise their prices for the special occasion, which isn’t always in the budget. We talked to my grandma, and she mentioned that they used to have fondue parties. She even had a bright orange fondue pot that she thought would never be used again. I’m sure it hadn’t been used in over 30 years when fondue parties were popular in the seventies. She let me borrow it and we started a tradition of our own that we have been doing for the last 15 years. After some years had passed by using my grandma’s fondue pot, I decided to retire it and upgrade to a more modern one. This is the one that we currently use. I do like that it plugs in and uses electricity instead of an open flame.
Our Valentine's Fondue Menu Includes a Cheese Course, Broth Course, and a Chocolate Course for Dessert
To make our cheese fondue, I use equal parts swiss, gruyere, and gouda. I have also been known to add some Cougar Gold cheese from Washington State University’s Creamery. This is Mike's alma mater, so we have a strong affection for their cheese. Go Cougs! I shred the cheese with our KitchenAid shredder attachment and toss it with a bit of cornstarch. We take a garlic clove and rub it around the warm pot to release the oils and keep it in the pot. You can thin out the melted cheese by using a bit of chicken stock (like the one I make here) or white wine. We use the stock because I can’t drink wine, so I’m not sure how much you would add. You could also use a bit of lemon juice (I recommend using about 1 ½ tbsps or half a lemon). The cheese fondue can be as simple as you want. Most grocery stores have ready-made cheese fondue in their deli section. Grab a loaf of sourdough bread and some apples and you are all set. Cheese is so versatile. You can definitely use anything that you enjoy eating with cheese. What we really love the most with this cheese combo is sourdough bread and Granny Smith apples. Can you tell we live in Washington? It’s the apple capital of the world. With the broth, we like to eat pieces of thinly cut sirloin, shrimp, zucchini, mushrooms, broccoli, and thinly sliced potatoes (we use my homemade broth for this).
To conclude our night, we use this chocolate fondue recipe.
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup milk (whole, 2%, or 1%) plus a bit more as needed for consistency
- Pinch of kosher salt
- Splash of Kahlua (optional)
- 10 oz. (about 1 ¾ cups) of semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (you can do a mixture of both if you want)
Mike and I have been happily married for 24 years, and as time has passed, we have realized that it’s the little things like these traditions that are most important to me. We chose to stay home on Valentine’s Day and have a family fondue party as a way to show love for the whole household. We can always go out another day to a fancy restaurant and celebrate a different special day, but these traditions are important to our whole family.
I don’t think there is any greater gift that we can give our family than to show our children how much a father loves their mother.
I remember all the times Mike walked in the door to give me a kiss and we got the teasing and the “eww, do you have to?” response so many times. Secretly though, I feel like our kids appreciate that daddy publicly loves on mommy and shows others that he loves and appreciates her. I always would comment, “Wouldn’t you rather have parents that loved each other than fought?"
There isn’t a time when Mike has walked in the door and hasn’t given me a kiss or told me “I love you” one last time before he walked out the door. It’s the small things you do to show love for others that end up meaning the most. Grand gestures are wonderful, but when you walk with someone through the ups and downs of life and show them throughout all those times that you love them, it makes an impact.
Valentine’s Day tends to have a romantic connotation, but I believe it can also represent a day, or even a month, to recognize those you love, be it friends, family, or your spouse.
I encourage you to take the stress and unneeded expectations out of Valentine’s Day and just enjoy spending time with the ones you love.
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