Ron and I have been married 40 years now! That man is a saint to have put up with me all these years! I’ve learned a few things over those 40 years! Every Valentine’s Day I would have my heart set on a heartfelt Valentine from him, dinner reservations to a nice restaurant, and just being together. Those early years were a little rough as he would walk in the door at 6:00 and ask if I wanted to go somewhere. Then we would drive around from place to place only to discover two hour wait times, and ending up either grabbing a hamburger from the drive through at Wendy’s or just coming home hungry and sad. In his defense, that’s just not his love language! It took me over 20 years to figure that out!!! After having a Come-to-Jesus with myself, I decided that if I wanted Valentine’s Day to go a certain way, it was perfectly fine for me to plan it and carry it out myself! Can I just say, I wish I had discovered that 20 years earlier!!!! And, I enjoy serving him!

I don’t love loud and crowded restaurants, especially with my hearing aids, it makes it difficult to hear and understand anything anyone says. We both enjoy King crab legs, and discovered that Costco had the biggest and best ones we’ve ever tasted for a fraction of the cost of restaurant ones. So for the past few years, I would pick up 2-3 of those yummy things, and we would cook them here at home – outside on our Camp Chef stove so as not to stink up the house.

We often added a filet mignon bacon wrapped steak from “Meier’s Meats” in Alpine, Utah, steamed asparagus on the grill, and either rice or a baked potato. The last couple of years, King crab legs have not been available, but that hasn’t stopped us from having a nice candlelit dinner here at home!

I love setting the table with the nice dishes, lighting the candles, and having a relaxing quiet dinner here at home. We make a good team with our food prep, and that’s part of the fun! One of our other favorite meals in steamed salmon from Costco on the grill. And due to the crab leg shortage, we’ve done salmon for the past couple of years. The prep is easy and fast, and so is the cooking. Often we throw it on frozen, and it takes about 20-30 minutes to cook depending on the size of the filet. If it’s not frozen, it takes less time.

I do the prepping and Ron is the grill master. He knows when it’s just right by how it steams and what the sizzling sounds like.

I start with a very long piece of heavy duty aluminum foil sprayed with PAM cooking spray. It’s important to always wash your fish before you cook it – fresh fish should never taste fishy, and washing it prevents that fishy taste. Once it’s been rinsed, pat it dry with paper towels.

Squeeze the juice of one lemon onto the aluminum foil, place the rinsed and dried salmon filet on the foil. Then squeeze another lemon over the top.

Sprinkle dill weed over the top of the filet, and your favorite fish seasoning. We like to use the “Maddox Seasoning Salt” from the “Maddox Ranch House” restaurant in Perry, Utah. You can also add some thinly sliced lemons to the top of the Salmon before wrapping it up like an envelope in the foil.

I wrap it in one more layer of regular weight tin foil, to avoid leakage into the grill, and to keep the juices inside the foil packet to perfectly steam the fish.

We also love asparagus. I cut it in bite size pieces, drizzle it with our favorite “Redstone Picual Olive Oil”, sprinkle it with our favorite seasoning, place it in a disposable foil pan, and add it into the grill with the salmon for the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Sometimes we add some jasmine rice, or a potato, and dinner is served.

This year a dear friend gave us a bottle of sparkling lemonade from France and our favorite “Trader Joe’s Danish Kringle” for dessert. These were the finishing touch to our perfect Valentine’s dinner. Clean up was quick and easy, and we both had an enjoyable evening.

I feel bad it took me so many years to stop being a spoiled brat with expectations that aren’t in Ron’s wheelhouse. He loves when we cook together and spend time here at home! I love how our home fills with LIGHT, not only from the actual candles, but even better, the smile on his face, and twinkle in his eyes as we share quality time together!

So if something’s not working in your relationships, try looking at it from your sweetheart’s point of view, and think of things you can do different to make it better. When we focus on what we can do, instead of what our partner can do for us, often times the issues tend to iron themselves out on their own. Serving others brings LIGHT, and when we focus on each other’s strengths instead of their weaknesses, both parties are happier, and LIGHT fills our homes.

Have a wonderful week, and find something to do together to bring LIGHT into your lives!

Love Ya, Les :)

Serve

Valentine’s Day Dinner