Over the years I’ve realized that one of the best ways to make someone feel special is to do something out of the ordinary. The gesture doesn’t have to cost a lot…a simple twist to the everyday is enough to let others know they’re in your thoughts. With this in mind I decided that I would cook a romantic Valentine’s dinner for my sweetie last month since we actually eat out quite often.

I played with a few ideas of creating a really off the top menu but since the evening was about relaxing, having light easy to cook dishes would be important. I decided to use what we had on hand enhanced with some extra goodies from our favorite Thai market here in Berkeley.

The shrimp salad was so simple (just use baby spinach, baby corn, and shrimp) and turned out amazing paired with the lemon dijon vinaigrette recipe I pulled off Epicurious. I was worried that using raw minced shallots would be too strong but it worked perfectly with the Meyer lemons from our yard.

This entry was posted Wednesday, March 1st, 2006 at 6:50 am and is filed under Dinner Ideas, Holiday Favorites .