From Mr. Handsome:
The day before the big snow storm hit Nashville, we had an early Valentine’s Day dinner with my brother and his girlfriend. Some of you might remember us mentioning my brother a few years ago. He is your typical bachelor who struggles to put something edible on a plate. I know he could figure out how to cook if he really cared, but he simply does not prioritize food and prefers to heat up quick meals in the microwave and keep moving.
For that reason, we were very surprised when we received a handwritten invitation to a Valentine’s dinner. The letter included a dress code (smart casual) as well as a printed menu. On the menu were fancy words like “braised and “roasted.” Since the word “microwaved” was not on the menu, we could surmise that my brother was getting some serious help from his girlfriend.
Upon arriving at his house, we were shocked to find a perfectly set table with a white tablecloth. The dining room was lit with mood lighting, and Frank Sinatra was playing on the speakers. This was particularly surprising because up until that day, my brother had only owned an assortment of “reclaimed” kitchenware.
Before getting married, I had prized myself on never spending a dime on kitchen furnishings. Over the years, I collected old pots, pans, plates, and cutlery that family members and friends were discarding. My cups were mostly jars that I had recycled from past purchases.
When Ellie visited my house for the first time after we started dating, I served her ice water in an old Tostitos nacho cheese jar. She wasn’t too impressed. The week before we got married, she boxed up my entire kitchen and dropped it off at my brother’s house. But that was almost six years ago, and most of those items were much older than that. So Ellie and I were thrilled to see that my brother’s girlfriend had bought him a real set of plates and cups for his house.
The evening was lovely, and the dinner was delicious. They served us various courses of dishes, all plated in the kitchen and walked out to the dining room. Butternut squash soup, asparagus wrapped in crisp prosciutto, mix greens with goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette, and Cabernet-raised short rips over potato puree. Every bite was incredible. We even had two options for desert (ice cream pie and chocolate lava cake). It felt like dinning at a five-start restaurant. They were kind enough to make a separate kids meal for Little Buddy, which he loved.
This is so sweet of your brother ( and his girlfriend) to put a dinner together for the two of you! What a special day 🙂
For the four of them,and Little Buddy too.
Haha you left us hanging. I thought you were gonna say at the end you found out it did come from a fancy restaurant. It did, didn’t it? 😂
Lol! it was all homemade. Impressive, for sure!
That was a so sweet what your brother did Mr Handsome. Cute story. Mary Keim
Wow! Looks and sounds amazing! My guess is that the girlfriend has a background in culinary arts? And can I please have her in my circle of friends/family??
Haha. Surprisingly, she doesn’t have a background in culinary arts. But it’s definitely a hobby of hers.
Does the girlfriend have a job?
She does. Not in the food industry though.
That looks and sounds amazing! She truly has a talent for cooking. It was awfully nice that Little Buddy was included as well and thought was put into his meal too!
That all looks sooo good.
That was so sweet of your brother to do that. That food looked delicious and the way he arranged everything on the plates was so impressive. Ok now I’m hungry! lol
That’s🤵a lovely 👸🏻story!
Glad you had a nice Saint Valentine’s Day dinner. Your brother sounds caring and generous.
Joan,Marion and Marilyn
That sounds like one of those expensive meal kits that do everything for you but put it on your plate and feed it to you.
Very sweet! I am all for including children but also having time for adults. For an event like this I probably would have asked a family member to babysit. Even if you don’t mind, they may have wanted an adult event and toddlers just change the dynamics:)
Same here. Not everything is kid-friendly.
I completely agree that it’s nice to have adult-only time. But we also like to include our son in “fancy” events whenever appropriate, to help him learn how to behave in those kinds of situations. That being said, there are some events/places that we definitely wouldn’t take him to. For Mr. Handsome’s birthday last year, my in-laws took us to a nice restaurant, along with my married brother-in-law and his wife and toddler son. We made sure to have a backup plan in case the kids became loud, but they surprisingly did very well. It was a major encouragement to my sister-in-law and I to see that because both of them can be pretty wild boys. My son LOVED the food, and when he wasn’t eating, we allowed him to play quietly with a couple small toys at the table or watch a show on my phone (with the volume turned off). We kept telling him what a great job he was doing, and he was very proud of himself. The waiter was impressed, too.
Very nice! Such a blessing😊
Such a delicious looking meal. And so wonderfully presented. A lot of thought and care went into the whole night. What a change from a microwave meal at your brother’s house Mr H! A perfect Valentine Celebration!
I’m with your brother, quick meals in the microwave is all I do!