Sunday, February 14, 2010

"Ya tebya liubliu"


"Ya tebya liubliu" means "I love you" in Russian, in case you were wondering. This was one of the first things that Toly ever spoke to me in Russian.  I remember it like it was yesterday…..we were on one of our first dates at Dukes.  It was a warm summer evening and as we sat on the deck on top of the beautiful Susquehanna River enjoying our dinner, I continually nagged Toly to say something to me in Russian.  His fluent tongue in a foreign language was quite a turn on you see.  He bashfully hesitated for awhile, but finally gave into my overpowering nagging.  Toly looked me straight in the eyes with the most serious face and said "Ya tebya liubliu."  

I almost fell off my chair.  I think that was the first moment when I knew I was falling in love with this boy.  Now, nearly 7 years later, we celebrated our 6th Valentines Day together. 

Last year, Toly outdid himself.  You can read about that here if you wish….


This year, we decided not to change too much of a good thing.  The only difference was instead of Toly cooking a romantic dinner by himself, we wanted to stir up some romance in the kitchen together. 

But, from the beginning…..

It began with presents and pancakes for my man. 





I did pretty well in the gift department this year.  A gift certificate to get his car detailed, a bottle of his favorite whiskey, some lotto tickets, and his favorite chocolate.  Oh and a holiday inspired decadent breakfast….Chocolate Chip Cherry Pancakes. (Topped with coconut, hazelnuts, nutella, and white chocolate chips) 

I attempted to make these into heart shapes for the sake of being cheesy; however, the heart shapes were just too small and I didn't make enough pancakes to sacrifice, so they were more like heart indented. Still full of love mind you! 



Served with strawberries and yogurt and coffee in our appropriate Mr. and Mrs. mugs. 

Toly gave me my gift after breakfast.  A massage!  Okay, he didn't actually perform the massage, but he informed me that I had an appointment at the message for an hour Therapeutic Massage.  Yes, this is what he got me last year, and if he got me this gift for every single Valentines Day, I would NEVER complain.  It's EXACTLY what I wanted and EXACTLY what I needed. 




The massage was glorious. It was a bit different than other massages I have had, in that it was intended to serve as a form of therapy.  So rather than being entirely relaxing, the woman had me doing all kinds of stretches and breathing to relieve all of my pressure points.  She kept telling me how tight I was and how my one side was shorter than the other.  Not really sure what that means, but regardless, the experience was definitely therapeutic.  Probably similar to a trip to the Chiropractor.  I felt as though I was readjusted when it was all over.  Amazing none the less. 

After my spa trip, Toly picked me up and took me to lunch. 

Being the two mushy people that we are, we both sat on the same side of the booth. 

Okay, not really, but we did to take this picture. 

I ordered the Bella Salad for lunch, which had porto shrooms, walnuts, cranberries, goat cheese and I asked them to add shrimp because I was feeling the lack of protein. 

It turned out to be an awesome salad.  I'm usually skeptical about ordering salads in restaurants anymore.  They are either loaded with fried stuff and dressing or pathetically lacking volume and flavor. This was was neither and very delicious! 

We headed to Wegmans after lunch to pick up the ingredients for our romantic dinner. 

On the menu: 

Baked King Crab Legs
Cream of Crab Soup
Roasted Broccoli
Salad
Tuscan Bread

First things first…..

The cooking process always begins with a bit of fuel for the chefs. 



Much better, now on to the crab….

These legs were massive.  Just think of the crab that these babies came off of. 


But just think of the meat that these suckers held….


Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper, Lemon Juice, baked a 375 for 10 min.  Easiest method of making crab legs and by far the very best! 


Taking a moment for sappy photos...


Taking a moment for a little bow chika wow wow!! :) 


                                     
(Come on kids, this is a PG Blog, you didn't really think I would show too much inappropriate content) 


Cream of Crab Soup (from Wegmans)

Baked Crab Leg, Roasted Broccoli, Salad





Romantic Table for Two


Diggin' for Crab


Everything was mindblowing.  The crab was some of the best crab legs we had ever had.  Toly and I kept making moaning noises throughout the entire dinner, and not just because we were that hot for each other.  Trust me, it was all attributed to the food.  

Our Valentines Day was perfect.  We tried to go back through every one over dinner, but we were only able to remember 4 out of the 6.  It's times like these when I wish I had a blog my entire life so that I would always be able to remember these moments.  

No matter if you celebrated with your true love, your best friend, your family, or your lovely self, hope that your Valentines Day was sweet as can be.  

XoXo

Photobucket

15 comments:

  1. YOU TWO ARE THE CUTEST THINGS EVER. seriously. i love the bow-chicka-wow-wow, haha!

    i love all your eats as usual...i am pretty sure if i had money, i would hire you as my personal chef. those pancakes. gah, i die!

    and that dinner! i used to never like crab, but now I LOVE IT. soooo good. happy valentines day my love! mwah!

    ReplyDelete
  2. p.s. men with accents/speaking in a foreign tongue = SEXAY!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! You two are too cute for words- I just love it! Great gifts, great meals and just love that you spent so much time together! <3

    ReplyDelete
  4. aww yes!! i agree with what you said about teh blog- i can't wait to be able to look back on all the memories a few years from now..so great. so jealous of your massage and that crab looks great!! you also look STUNNING by the way :)

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a sweet way to celebrate :) And the story about Toly talking to you in Russian? Made my heart mushy :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. OMG I havent heard that phrase in Russian since, well, I dated a Russian guy for 2 years! He taught me that and "shut up". There's a reason we broke up!

    Your crab looks incredible, and thanks for the tip on cooking it. I saw them at the store not too long ago and had NO CLUE how to cook them in our little kitchen!

    Happy V-day friend! Love ya!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like an AMAZING Valentine's day. So nice that he got you a massage...what a perfect gift! And crab...yum! Happy belated Valentine's Day, love!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Loved reading this! My husband lived in Ukraine for two years and when we were dating, he would say I Love You in Russian to me all the time and I had no idea what it meant for quite some time. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wheeee! Love crab legs but have never had the king crab legs. I should just go ahead and give them a try. Y'all are so cute, loved the day! :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. so glad you had such a wonderful valentine's day with your honey! toly's "i love you" in russian story was so sweet; reminded me of when my husband said "i love you" in chinese to me - he learned it from the movie "saving face" i was in - which was a lesbian movie - so he basically said to me in chinese, "i love you, i'm also gay."

    ReplyDelete
  11. This post makes me love you even more! Seriously, the love that you guys have each other is so evident. It makes me smile and I love how you two joke around and can be romantic :D Best of both worlds! The eats look delicious (especially those pancakes!!). And you look beautiful and adorable as always.

    XO

    p.s. you are hilarious!!! lol I don't know how many times you made me laugh in this post. I hope you're doing well and that your week started off with a kick!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. OMG you are the cutest! the crab leg photo had me grinning ear to ear. what a fun time. lmao @ the bow chicka wooooow wow!!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Awwww :) You guys are the cutest! I am LOVING all of your foodie pics, they are making me drooollllllll-which isn't a good thing at the moment, cos I am at school :D

    ReplyDelete