Our First "Love Day" As Mr. & Mrs

Valentine's Day was a quiet, but cozy, one for us. Before I left for work that morning, I wrote 15 little post-it notes to Alan reminding him of how much I love him & what traits I admire most in him. I left them on our door as a surprise. When I got home, I was surprised with a gorgeous bouquet of a dozen pink roses. We cooked dinner together (chicken breast stuffed with crab .. mmmmm delicious) and shared a bottle of wine. We exchanged handmade Valentines.

This is gonna sound cheesy but in our house, Love Day is everyday. We love to surprise each other with little trinkets and gifts, and we express our affections for one another often. For us, Valentine's Day is really just an excuse to treat ourselves with a good meal. I'm sure once we have children and aren't able to go out on grown-up dates as often we'll appreciate Valentine's Day more ... but we'll never need a holiday to remember to be grateful for each other. 

I hope you had a wonderful day with the ones you love! 

High tea at the prettiest patisserie ...

For Christmas, my husband gave me a little certificate which said I'd be having high tea in January at Patisserie Fur Elise, a new French pastry shop downtown. It was the PERFECT gift because I've been dying to check this place out for months. 

The patisserie is in a lovely Queen Anne-style Victorian heritage house. It's gorgeously decorated, with round wood tables and plush, comfy chairs. The teacups are exquisite, as you can see from the photo above, and there are crystal chandeliers everywhere. I truly felt like I was a princess sipping tea in my urban chateau. We found out from our waitress that the patisserie was actually a wedding gift from a generous groom to his pastry chef bride. He gave her carte blanche and she designed the entire shop from scratch, ordering custom-made chairs and tables and fabrics. I think that's incredibly romantic! I wish I had taken some photos of the building and the tea room but I got really distracted by all the delicious treats coming out to our table. 
Treats like these ...

We started off choosing tea from the tea menu (I chose an award-winning black tea from Taiwan; Alan selected a rooibos tea) and then our food was brought out. It was a great mix of sweet and savoury: croissants, whipped mousse, French macarons, scones and the most amazing cucumber dill sandwich. I've been to high tea before but this was Alan's first high tea experience. I think he was a little taken aback by the pink decor and the extremely girly feel of the place, but in the end the amazing food won him over. 

Everything was delish, but that little pastry in front (pink with the white chantilly cream) was my favorite. Strawberry mousse that was so light I could've easily eaten a dozen in one sitting! Luckily for me, they aren't just a tea room .. they also sell pastries in their shop, including full-size ones of all the desserts shown above. I'm sure I'll be back several times - for the high tea and to pick up a few take-home treats when I need a pick-me-up.

If you're in the Vancouver area you should definitely check them out:  Patisserie Fur Elise, 847 Hamilton Street (one block from Robson). Reservations recommended.