Jesus said we gotta show our love to one another so Nicholas and I spent Ash Wednesday celebrating our love with a candlelit 4-course dinner, roses, and rose wine. What a great start to Lent! ♱
Jesus survived 40 days in the desert and that's no mean feat. 🙏 While I can't really do Math, pretty sure we survived >1000 days with each other from the start so that's pretty amazing. Hallelooooo!
For those who don't get it, Valentine's Day and Ash Wednesday fell on the same day this year HAHAHAHA uh oh blasphemous.
Choosing a place to eat was a bit of a tedious affair because other than keeping the price point in mind, we also had to avoid all those with fishy dishes stuff because I don't like seafood. In the end we picked Cali Cafe at Rochester, it's kinda far for us but the 4-course Vday set looked good and was just $108 for 2, with free rose wine.
Prior to this we've only celebrated Valentine's twice - once when we weren't exactly together-together, where we had ramen at Northpoint and he gave me a toilet paper rose covered in glitter, and last year where we had a proper not-too-pricey dinner at Stuttgart Blackforest S-Cafe. Oh yeah I also remember that last year I was having my period so in the middle of the dinner I had a case of period shits and had to disappear for a bit.
Last year I told him not to buy me any flowers because I knew they'd be expensive, so he folded me some paper roses. This year he is finally gainfully employed so I just kept quiet HAHAHAHA. He didn't disappoint, got a bigass bouquet delivered to my office hehe.
It's not every year that you get to receive flowers on Ash Wednesday!!!
People being all bitter and saying "Valentine's day is capitalism", shut the fuck up okay. Being single or being part of a couple who doesn't like celebrating special occasions doesn't make you better than everyone else *rolls eyes*
Your birthday is capitalism. You are a walking piece of capitalism. Buying some cheap-looking Hypebeast t-shirt for $200 is total capitalism.
Also, your fried chicken bouquets for lonely gluttons are oily and gross.
This year I got to be one of those girls walking around with a big ass bouquet, attracting attention and taking up extra space on the train and I enjoyed every minute of it. Not sorry. I have someone who loves me enough to pull out all the stops and let me have a good time and I'm glad for that.
Would we have enjoyed each others' company just as much at a food court eating $3.50 ban mian? Yes. But sometimes it's nice to make that one night extra special. We celebrated but we didn't splurge and we enjoyed ourselves.
Nicholas said that ultimately he would prefer a cosy dinner at home but currently we have no home LOL. I'd prefer dining out for such occasions but I wouldn't mind. In the end you gotta be willing to take turns to do what your partner likes so you can make each other happy!
I have a colleague whose boyfriend didn't want to go for Vday dinner at all because according to her "he's a cheapo" (her words not mine)...but he earns a good salary. She had to hint to him multiple times and her desperation grew as the day approached. Thankfully he came through in the end!!! But my point is, it shouldn't have to come to that and I feel celebrating events as a couple is important. Even if one of you think it's stupid, it might be important to the other person.
Moving on...
Cute! 🐷
Look at this idiot posing like a basic bitch
His mother actually told him to abstain 😂
And there I was turning everything Unholy.
Not gonna lie, a huge part of why I wanted to document this occasion was because of all the unholy jokes I cleverly thought of. HAHA.
Soup:
Cream of Jerusalem Artichoke
No pictures because I was excited to drink the soup and didn't want it to get cold. If it's from Jerusalem, it must be holy in some way right? I'm sure Jesus was proud of us.
WE OFFER THIS WINE~ 𝅘𝅥𝅯🎜𝅘𝅥𝅯𝅗𝅥 (you'll get the joke if you're Catholic)
EVEN THEIR CANDLES WERE LIKE THE ONES COMMONLY USED FOR ROSARY SESSIONS HAHAHA. See, best of both worlds, Jesus + Valentine's! :P
Starters:
Grilled Hokkaido Scallop with Cauliflower Feta Puree & Pomegranate (His)Pan Seared Foie Gras with Sauteed Figs in Shiraz & Caramelised Apple (Mine)
The scallops were not bad! No fishy smell/taste and the cheese sauce was good.
Photos are a bit shitty cos I hastily took them with my phone. My #1 priority was to eat.
Mine! It was quite a generous piece :)
Mains:
Snow Cod Wrapped with Bacon & Served with Saffron Risotto (His)
Angus Grain Fed Tenderloin with Gorgonzola Sauce & Baby Vegetables (Mine)
Didn't take a picture of his fish but here's my steak. The cheese sauce was a bit sickening on its own but it went GREAT with the steak! Glad that the steak was tender and didn't have any of that bloody taste and I like how it was seared :)
Dessert:
Opera Served with Seasonal Fruit
Well basically it was a chocolate cake with berries lah.
Shit stain or chocolate?
Shit jokes aside we both liked the cake, the chocolatey taste was strong enough and while the cake layers were light, they weren't airy and there was good bite.
Things I do during Ash Wednesday dinner. I put the raspberry on my pinky and said it looked like a hat so Nicholas drew a face on it HAHAHAHA I was quite tipsy by then and couldn't stop laughing.
Here's the only ambience shot I have
As you can see from the video above the tables were quite closely packed together and the place wasn't swanky, in fact it was pretty casual. But it was good enough for me especially since the food was yummy and affordable. The fairy lights were a nice touch too, though not sure if they were just too lazy to remove them from Christmas haha!
Service was great too, the staff helped every couple snap a photo and printed it out for free as a keepsake!
Not the printout, this is from my own camera. Check out the Chinese New Year 福 sign at the back.
Here's where the abrupt ending comes: we sat outside for a bit and then got sleepy and went home. The end.
