Love and Brownies

February, by virtue of Valentine's Day on the 14th, has now become casually referred to as the month of love. I've never placed any specific importance on celebrating Valentine's, but I've never hated it either, even when I was single. I'd taken the opportunity to do little things for my family and friends, like writing them little notes or giving them small tokens. 

My boyfriend and I also celebrate our anniversary on this month, so we've been extra appreciative of one another these past few days. He gave me flowers and new charms for my Pandora bracelet, and I baked some Chocolate-Strawberry Truffle Brownies and prepared a strawberry-white wine sangria for the weekend.

Chocolate Brownies with Choco-Strawberry Cream Cheese Ganache. Recipe from Taste of Home. I love this because it has some of his favorites: coffee, strawberry; and some of mine: chocolate, pistachios.

I modified the recipe slightly by putting some slices of strawberry before the final layer of ganache, and topped it with roasted pistachios.

 

Sangria made from white wine and fresh strawberries; in a champagne flute because why not!

My initial, and his enabling of my cherry blossom obsession

Beautiful bouquet wrapped in pink and green (can anyone tell me what those long, pink flowers are?)

What's so interesting is, we were both subconsciously aware of each others' love language, and these were the best ways we thought we could make each other feel special. If you haven't heard of the 5 Love Languages yet, it's based on a book originally released in 1995 that talks about ways people receive and express love. The author, Gary Chapman, claims these love languages are gifts, acts of service, words of affirmation, quality time, and physical touch.

Brief descriptions of the Love Languages. This screenshot is how mine were ranked when I took the quiz on his website.

While I love the gifts themselves, I appreciate his acts of service of taking time out of his whole days at work (sometimes even 24 hours,) and how he knew what kind of flowers I'd find pretty, and what charm would be significant. My act of service was preparing food I know he loves (strawberries!) Both of us blocked off an entire day to just hang out, watch movies, and play with the dogs. 

I find these love languages to be helpful, not only with him, but with friends. It's nice to know what makes people feel valued, and on the flip side, good to be aware of what could damage a relationship if not nurtured. 

This month, I'm going to choose love every day, and hopefully it becomes a habit that I can keep up for the rest of the year. Happy Sunday!

Grandparents Day

My sister requested to have dimsum for brunch, at this cart-serviced Chinese joint we frequent only on Sunday mornings, because it's her last weekend in the country for a while. After a giant bowl of congee, and several plates of our usuals doused in chili oil, we headed to the shopping centre to run some errands. While waiting for her number to be called at a certain telecom's customer service, she wanted to grab some Rita's from a couple of shops down. We both quickly chose Gelatis, then noticed a promo: free kiddie cups when accompanied by grandparents. I grabbed my dad from next door, hurriedly and poorly explaining why, but he smiled when he got to choose Tangerine from the sugar-free selection. 

Yeap, I pretended my dad was my lolo, and who would contest that hair?

My sister and my dad went to the dentist and the barber, respectively, while I met up with friends this afternoon. A friend whom I met 11 years ago, during an exchange program in UP, arranged for us to sing for her lola who suffered from a stroke. We spent a few hours with their family, reading verses, praying, singing, and then eating. She'll be flying back to the bay area tomorrow night, and wanted to leave her lola with a small blessing. 

I never met my mom's parents, and hardly got to know my father's, who lived in Bicol all their lives. I felt a tinge of envy watching Heidi's devotion to her lola, and wondered what it would've been like to know mine. My parents are now grandparents, but miles away from their two apo living in Washington; but I pray that the kids know how wonderful their grandparents are, and someday be as loving and sensitive to their needs as I had witnessed my friend be to hers.