Valentines Weekend

I truly love holidays and now that I am home, I'm able to make each holiday extra special. For Valentines I spent the days prior baking all kinds of sweets for the valentines in my life, my husband and my boys. I made a heart shaped double chocolate fudge cake, heart shaped chocolate chip cookies, heart shaped strawberry frosted sugar cookies and a raspberry topped cheesecake. I also decorated the serving plates with fresh strawberries and small heart shaped strawberry flavored marshmallows.

While baking, there was a knock at the front door and to my surprise I received a beautiful bouquet of flowers from my husband. This may not seem like a big deal, but coming from my husband it is. As much as my husband loves me, he's never been one of those guys who buys flowers so it really was a surprise and a gesture that didn't go unnoticed. Later that evening when my husband and kids entered the kitchen, they saw a counter full of valentine goodies and were very excited. After everyone finished dinner they were able to have some cookies for dessert... I always feel that there is something special about sharing homemade desserts with the people you love... it's little things like this that create memories that last forever.

Saturday my husband made dinner reservations at Jacksons Steakhouse in downtown Pensacola. He made sure to request a quite table for two in the corner away from all the other tables packed in the center of the room. The only opening for dinner that they had available was at 4pm. Since that was our only option he went ahead and made the reservation. 

For those of you who aren't from here, Jacksons is an upscale steakhouse that occupies the ground floor of the revitalized 1860s-era building that originally housed H. Pfeiffer & Company Mercantile. The building overlooks Plaza Ferdinand where, in July 1821, General Andrew Jackson accepted the transfer of Florida from Spain to the United States and raised the American flag in Pensacola for the first time. He served briefly as governor of Florida and then returned to Tennessee with his wife Rachel. In 1828, Jackson was elected seventh president of the United States. In 1935, to commemorate this historic event, a bust of Jackson was commissioned and placed in Plaza Ferdinand.

We left the house around 3pm giving us plenty of time to drive to downtown and find a parking spot. When we were about a mile from the restaurant we noticed that traffic wasn't moving and soon realized that at 4pm the Pensacola Mardi Gras parade was going to start and that the road in front of Jacksons was closed off. We ended up having to park about 2.5 blocks away and walking. Normally this wouldn't be a big deal but on this evening it was unusually cold and windy. I was wearing a dress and 2 inch heels so I was kind of frustrated the hostess didn't mention the parade or the parking issue when my husband made the reservation. However once we reached Jackson's and was seated at a romantic table in the corner, my frustration quickly faded away.

The waiter came over and gave detailed information about each item on the menu and his recommendations which I always appreciate. To start, I ordered a glass of German white wine, Saarstein Mosel Saar Ruwer or as I called it, Riesling. My husband ordered one of his favorite beers, Stella Artios and while we reviewed the menu we were able to enjoy our drinks and watch the parade going on outside our window. Even though this ruined the romantic vibe of the restaurant it sure was fun to watch. During the waiters menu description he recommended the Roasted French Onion Soup with Gruyere Cheese Crust and it sounded so good that I couldn't resist ordering it as my appetizer. My husband on the other hand went with what he knows, the Caesar Salad.

For the main course we both ordered a steak (when in Rome)... I ordered the 6oz. Petite Filet topped with blue cheese crumbles and served with grilled asparagus and Jacksons famous cheddar cheese grits. My husband had the 14oz. Delmonico served with Spanish rice and three cheese macaroni. Both meals were to die for. Mine was the perfect size, not too much and not too little. Dinner was everything we expected. The service was great, the food was great and the company was wonderful. It was so nice to have dinner just the two of us... By the time we finished dinner the parade was over and the long walk to the car was much more appreciated on the way back. It was nice to walk off our dinner holding hands and talking about what we were going to do next.

Since it was still early we decided to go see the movie Valentines Day at the Breeze Cinema. The movie was really cute and much better than I thought it was going to be. It was the perfect movie for a valentines date night. We ended up being home early enough to enjoy dessert with the kids. We had a slice of the raspberry topped cheese cake that was very very good. It was a great ending to a great day.

Sunday morning my husband and my kids woke to find a Valentine bag for each of them filled with valentine goodies and a card to let them know that they are my special valentines. They didn't know that I stayed up Saturday night until they were all asleep and put out the bags at 2am before falling asleep myself. The rest of the morning I cleaned the house for a showing at 11:00am while my husband went to my youngest sons basketball game. By noon we walked 3 miles to work off our Valentines dinner from the night before and then enjoyed a lite lunch outside by the pool. The rest of the day was spent relaxing together...

Love is not shared only for one day but for everyday. Happy Valentines :)

This is my world...