What kind of relationship blog doesn’t update about Valentine’s Day?  NOT THIS ONE!

Honestly, to me, V-Day is just a constant series of ripoffs, which isn’t to say that I’m a stingy bastard, because I’m all about excuses for getting dressed up and going out to eat, but Valentine’s Day is so fake and forced and leaves me with a feeling of being held hostage, and I hate that.  I celebrate love every freaking day, thank you very much, and I don’t mind going out for a romantic dinner, but I want to do it on my terms, not Hallmark’s.  Lindsey, on the other hand, LOVES Valentine’s Day, but we agreed that we weren’t going to do anything special this year, because, well, we’ve both been really sick and tired lately and we’re trying to save money.  So we didn’t exchange presents, but that doesn’t mean that I was going to let V-Day slide completely.

So, on Valentine’s Day eve, Lindsey and I tried Bashan in Glendale, because I liked the idea of a small, intimate restaurant where the chef/owner makes all the dishes. And there’s something cute about the fact that his wife handles the front of the house, so it’s like a labor of love. Also, after watching this week’s Top Chef, I was craving expertly made chicken.

I think it’s hard to discuss food without sounding either really pretentious or boringly repetitive, so I’m not going to say stuff like, “Braised pork belly is lighter than most, too, cooked to a buttery softness and served in a little broth with tomatoes and cranberry beans, and a few steamed mussels.” which is what the Times reviewer had to say.  I will say that for starters, I got the scallops and she got the pork belly, and oh my freaking god, that pork belly was the most delicious thing ever.  The scallops were very good too, but that pork belly was literally like butter in my mouth.

For our entrees, I got the chicken and she got the barramundi, which I had to Google earlier in the day to find out was fish.  Both were excellent.  The chicken was generous and juicy and came with a little quail egg which was interesting, and her fish was perfectly cooked and seasoned.  The thing I like about going out to places where there’s attention to detail is that I wind up forcing myself to eat outside of my comfort zone.  I tried all the little things that came with my chicken, and all of it was delicious.  I would never normally be like, “yay yams!” but there they were, under my chicken, and they were good.

We also had some wine, and then for dessert we split a chocolate bread pudding with vanilla ice cream.  A delicious end to a wonderful meal.  It was a nice leisurely paced meal, too.  We were in at 8 and out around 10, but it never felt like our meal dragged on.  The service was extremely attentive and warm and I loved being able to just sit across from Lindsey and catch up with what’s going on with her.   Even though we live together, we’re always so tired from working so much that we hardly ever get a chance to just talk.  Date nights are so nice, and I don’t need a dumb prompt like Valentine’s Day in order to schedule one.

As for the rest of our weekend, we spent it exactly how we wanted:  in our jammies, snorgling under our Slanket, catching up on TV on the DVR and watching movies.  We were lazy and loving it.  In other words: it was perfect.