Every year my husband Mike and I pick a theme for Valentines Day. If we are having a party, there must be a theme, we are just those kinda people. This years Valentine theme was tiki. I really love the Valentines we made each other this year. Husbot even ordered some leis to go with his pun.
Naturally tiki mugs seemed like the way to go with gifts. Husbot gifted me this set, “The Marvelous Mai Tai Machine”. I got to open it early because I am a child. For husbot I got him the Jaws tiki mug from Mondo that he’s been coveting. It’s pretty rad I must say. We are both film nerds and love Spielberg so this feels like a perfect addition to our growing collection. To keep the Jaws vibe going we needed to rewatch it and I still enjoyed it so much. I feel like Richard Dreyfuss must’ve implanted in my brain as a kid cause he’s definitely an archetype I’ve always found attractive. We also watched “Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar”. Completely worth the rental fee in my book. It’s completely silly and fun, it kinda reminded me of how I felt watching the first Austin Powers flick.
For dinner, we made the two Trader Vics recipes in Vincent Price’s cookbook, Butterfly Steak Hong Kong & Strawberries Puiwa. Pineapple rice and broccoli for sides. The Strawberries Puiwa ended up stealing the show, it’s a really decadent and different type of sweet, and very boozy. Vincent Price’s cookbook btw is one of my favorites of all time. I can’t recommend it enough if you want to try something totally different. We use it almost every time we have a special occasion to cook for. I found it on Etsy years ago and am so glad I got it. Clearly Mai Tais were in order as well, I’ve read over and over that Trader Vics recipe is the way to go. Here’s a nice read from Eater about them. They really packed a punch, I’m not the biggest drinker these days so I was really feeling bubbly after two.
All things considered this was one of my favorite Valentines so far. I always dread going out on Valentines, it’s kinda like New Years Eve for me, crowds everywhere and a lot of pressure to live it up. I much prefer some QT at home making tasty things with my favorite person.