My Belated Valentine's Day Post

I'll blame it on the fact that I was in Berlin for the past month having entirely too many good times with my twin sister to post this on the actual holiday, but better late than never. I'm fortunate enough to have a sister who lives in Europe, who has a guest bedroom (with a balcony! she'll exclaim if you ask about it), and who I'm able to visit at a moment's notice, for as long as I want.

Valentine's Day came while I was in Berlin this time, and while Germans aren't as big on the holiday as we are in America, there was still the assortment of heart-themed billboards reminding the menfolk to buy candy and flowers for their ladies. So my sister and I, always up to make an elaborate celebration out of anything, decided to throw ourselves and her tolerant German boyfriend a V-Day dinner party.

We decided an assortment of appetizers (and of wine, but of course) was the way to go, and eventually narrowed the menu down to this (we were going to be only three people after all, and still ended up with leftovers for the next two days): four types of homemade bruschetta, grilled veggies, bacon-wrapped parmesan-stuffed dates (to. die. for.), grissini with prosciutto, and heart-shaped meatballs! The meatballs didn't look quite as heart-shaped once they were cooked, as you can see below, but they were still festively adorable! And although we ended up eating at about 10:30 at night, because it takes my sister and I at least three hours, one kitchen disaster (this time me breaking the food processor), and entirely too much laughing to ever concoct a whole meal, it was a perfect little Valentine's celebration!

Photos by: Natalie & Nicole Acrey

Images clockwise from top left: 1. homemade bruschetta with olive tapenade, white bean and walnut spread, goat cheese and heart-shaped beets! 2. the dinner table, at long last. 3. heart-shaped meatballs ready for cooking. 4. cooked not-so-heart-shaped meatballs. 5. grilled veggies. 6. heart-shaped beets and goat cheese bruschetta! 7. V-Day bouquet (because the Valentinstag billboards worked).