My husband has the worst birth day ever.
Nick was born on the day after Valentine's Day. What is so bad about that, you might wonder? Well, I'll tell you...
First, let me say that I am surprised that I like Valentine's Day. I do not support the explosion of commercialism and a holiday created for that very purpose. Yes, it is strange that Valentine's Day is so huge on the holiday list, yet the mail doesn't cease to be delivered and nothing closes. However, Nick is my first boyfriend and my first love. Therefore, I had 24 consecutive Valentine's Days where my roommates and friends were wooed and received flowers and balloons and stuffed animals. Not so fun. But these past 5 Valentine's Days of wooing and celebration of love? Fabulous. So, I am a fan now. I can't help it.
What I am NOT a fan of is the fact that everyone buys EVERYTHING in preparation of this holiday. Any good birthday gift for Nick is bound to be sold out. For some reason, chocolate and flowers are not enough anymore. Any good gift under the sun is in high demand for February 14. So those trying to celebrate something more important on February 15 are left to fend for ourselves.
And the consumption doesn't stop there. It's not enough to get your sweetheart a gift. Apparently you must buy up ALL THE FOOD IN TOWN. Making the preparation of a special birthday meal next to impossible.
The worst of all? Birthday cake. Essential for celebrating another year of your life, oui? Sold out. SOLD OUT, I tell you. I went to our favorite bakery on Monday or Tuesday of last week and tried to make a cake order. I figured I was waaaay early because they only require 24 hours advance notice and here I was a whopping 120 hours early. Booked. What? They were all booked. No more cakes to be made. But whyyyy, I thought? This is crazy! They can not make me a cake 5 days from now! Whyyyyy? Ahhhhh...Valentine's Day. The holiday where not only do you buy your love the best gift ever, but you buy all the food in the grocery store to make the best meal ever, and then you buy all the cakes in town to end the perfect holiday of all holidays. (And don't even try buying ingredients to make a cake--those are sold out as well.)
Sigh.
What a strange holiday that requires basically all of the same exact elements of a birthday--it's like everyone celebrating everyone else's birthday on the same day. I had never realized it until I married The Man with the Worst Birth Day Ever.
Epilogue: I know how to make lemonade out of lemons, people.
What do you do when all of the gifts, cakes, and dinner ingredients are sold out?
You give a more meaningful gift that doesn't require a purchase (who needs "stuff" anyways), you get cupcakes instead of cake (why are they able to make 2 dozen cupcakes instead of 1 cake? Beats me!), and you make a trio of grilled cheeses for dinner since everyone else is making steak !
For foodies who are curious:
1. feta, olive tapinade, and spinach stuffed in a pita with mozzarella melted over the top, served with a tzatziki sauce
2. buttermilk blue cheese, tallegia, thinly sliced granny smith apple, and whole grain mustard melted on texas toast
3. pepperjack cheese melted on blue corn tortillas and served with fresh salsa
(Thanks, Bob, for the first 2 suggestions!)
And for the record, although my man may have an unfortunate day of birth, he is WELL worth the hassle and his wonderful qualities make up for it in many other ways!
1 comments:
Ok, you caught me off guard with your first two grilled cheese combos. I didn't know you were a foodie! (I'm a wannabe.) Then I saw the shout out to Bob and understood. Kudos on your creativity, though! And the cupcake vs. cake thing is just ridiculous.
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