Happy Valentines!

I thought I would shed some light on how Valentine's day or rather St. Valentine's day originated. The day is an annual commemoration, held on 14 February, celebrating love and affection.

The day was established by Pope Gelasius I in 496 AD and was named after an early Christian martyr, Saint Valentine. According to legend, Saint Valentine was a priest, persecuted in the Roman Empire. The ruling emperor tried to convert Valentine to Roman paganism, but instead Valentine tried to convert the emperor to Christianity instead. For this, Valentine was executed on February 14.

The day first became associated with romantic love in the middle ages, when a romantic aspect was added to the story. It mentioned that Valentine had written a letter to the jailers daughter whom he had befriended and that he had signed it: "From my Valentine". In 1969 this day was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance still permitted.

In recent days we celebrate the day by the purchase of gifts, cards and flowers to the special person in your life. Males view this day as a waste of money and well conserved energy, whereas we females in turn view this day as sacred. A day where we can feel appreciated and loved.

So guys, here is a nifty last minute idea from Woolworths, that will not only make he feel appreciated, but will also allow you to spend some fun and quality time together. It is a tin with a spinning mechanism, that is full of wonderful treats. (PS: Remember the cream or massage oil for the foot rub and the back massage options!)

May you have a lovilee day!

DIY: Taste the love, valentines tea

I found the following post on Design*Sponge and just had to share it with all you creatives out there. One of their readers sent in the post on how to make your own lovilee valentines tea bags in three different ways. Not only is it nice to look at, but will certainly make the person drinking the tea feel special and loved.

Click through on the following link for step-by-step instructions on how to create the tea bags below.

 

Online: Valentines inspiration

I found Skippy Designs on Etsy, and it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside looking at the phodies on sale. Shopowner Mandy Lynne, a photographer in Springfield, USA's portfolio is truly inspiring with the tranquil and peaceful feel that she creates.

Love is often portrayed in reds and whites, but I think it should rather be in pastels, marshmallows and turkish delights. Visit the shop on Etsy for more photographs and be inspired!

Chooseday: Have you ever...

...seen such delightful biscuits in your whole life? These are so pretty that you dare note eat them! The cookies were first created for a Church bazaar in Botrivier (have no idea where this is) and were so popular that they are now sold and couriered all over South Africa.


These are excellent for weddings, tea parties or even just to have in your home for the odd occasion!

Source: The Pretty Blog

To order contact:

Charlotte +27 (0) 82 494 5236 or Robyn , alternatively you can email them for more information. 

Kitchen love: Valentines Oozy center chocolate pudding

Before I share this absolutely delish pudding, I want to mention that it is worth investing in a good quality kitchen scale. Sometimes weight works much easier to get your recipe going than having to measure 48,5ml or whatever odd amount of ingredient!

Makes 4 (1 for your loved one, 1 for you and another 2 for you!), 35 minutes

Filling:

·      70g dark chocolate (I use 80%)

·      50ml cream

Pudding:

·      40g brown sugar

·      50g butter

·      1 egg, beaten

·      25g flour (I know - almost nothing)

·      20g cocoa powder (NoMU is the best!)

·      20g ground almonds  (can be substituted with more flour)

1.     Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

2.     Melt the chocolate over simmering water and stir in the cream. Leave to chill for about 10 minutes.

3.     Grease 4 pudding moulds (not too big) - or 4 muffin indents of a muffin pan, which I always do. 

4.     Beat together the sugar and butter then add the egg.

5.     Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.

6.     Use enough batter to fill the moulds/"indents" to a third.

7.     Spoon the chilled chocolate mixture on top of the batter.

8.     Fill each one with the remainder of the batter.

9.     Bake for 10 minutes until set.

Prepare the plates:

Cut a heart shape out of a piece if paper. Use a small amount of cocoa and sift it through a sieve over the heart. Move the heart cut out and repeat. 

Leave the pudding to cool down slightly before using the paper with the heart cut-out and icing sugar sifted through a sieve to decorate the top of the njammy pudding.

Chooseday: Modern guy love - Treemail

Country Living magazine has created a valentines treemail app, where you are able to send a tree carving of your and your valentines' initial to Twitter, Facebook or via email. The application allows you to choose your own knife width as well as the tree bark style to carve into. The cost of the app is $0.99.

So for all the guys out there... No excuse not to have a card that shows the love this year!

Source: Design*Sponge

For more on this application, visit Design*Sponge or alternatively download it from Country Living Magazine.

DIY: Valentines eve

Here with some inspiration for valentines eve to make that special person in your life feel truly loved. This can be done by making use of any flower petals in your garden, leaves could work just as well. The key is to choose one or two colors from the garden at most to decorate a romantic space.

Kitchen love: Valentines main course

This is such an easy meal to prepare, allowing adequate time to set the table for the special person in your life!

Fillet with balsamic tomato pan sauce

serves 2, 15 minutes

• 2 x 175g beef fillet steaks
• olive oil, to rub
• 1 small packet mini Rosa tomatoes (Woolworths)
• 2ml dried oreganum
• 125ml balsamic vinegar

1. Heat a frying pan over a high heat.
2. Rub the steaks with olive oil and sear for about 2 minutes, then turn over and cook for another minute. (Cook longer should you prefer meat well done)
3. Remove the meat from the pan and allow to rest.
4. Fry the tomatoes in the pan until the skins burst - be careful not to squash it!
5. Pour the vinegar and oreganum and cook for 1 minute.
6. Serve the steak topped with the blackened tomatoes and sauce.

Serve with potato / sweet potato mash and stir fried baby marrow.

Be sure to visit next week for the delicious valentines dessert recipe!

Online: Spread the love

Here with a follow up on the valentines cards posted last week. Volume 25. has released a 2011 printable valentine card edition. There are 6 cards, one for each day leading up to valentines day. The cards are available form the EyeCandy Shop. Once paid, a 2 page PDF will appear in your inbox and you are ready to print, fold and send!

Chooseday: Key to the heart

So you have been thinking of a surprise valentines gift. Want to be retro, show affection and be practical? Here with the ideal gift for him or her, a Skeleton key USB drive. Each key has a memory of 2GB and is priced at $58 per USB, available online at FredFlare.com.

Online: A card for my valentine

It is my first Valentines day being married and I am rather indecisive on whether to give a printed or handmade card. There are some really neat cards available on etsy, here with some of my favourites:

Printed:

  

  

Top row: all by Colette paperie (US shipping only)

Bottom row: all by Zuq and Zoe (these files are emailed in PDF so that you can print them yourself)

Handmade:

  

  

Top row: all by Rosengarten

Bottom row: all by Little Bea studio