A Berry Happy Valentine’s Day

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch and Michael Lee West at Designs by Gollum have the “perfect pair”. Tablescape Thursdays and Foodie Fridays are a match made in heaven! Thank you ladies! I think I told you that Valentine’s Day is not one of my favorite holidays, but I just couldn’t let it pass without a little effort on my part. Since the big heart day falls on Sunday, I set a special table during the week.

I saw a picture several years ago using strawberries instead of red roses. Red roses are not my favorite and I like the idea of using fruit in a centerpiece. I really wanted to pair the strawberries with white roses, but pink is what I could find. I used the good old white Gibson serving bowl for the flower container—just filled it with wet oasis.

The strawberries were inserted with wooden skewers. One of the beauties of this arrangement is that you can decide on the number of roses and the number of strawberries…and strawberries are definitely cheaper than roses…even 1/2 price ones :).

For a Tuesday night we’re keeping it pretty casual with Big Lots No-name square plates and Target melamine salad plates and placemats. The stainless (what is left of it :) is Louisiana by Oneida. I picked it out as a bride-to-be and I think a lot of it is buried in sand boxes and dirt piles in two or three states. The cute little Dollar Tree marshmallow suckers dress up the napkins, but I don’t think they count as dessert.

In this last icy cold winter blast, I have learned something: 1.Cold weather makes me hungry and lazy. 2. This will not be attractive at the beach. SO we are having a lighter dessert-strawberries left over from the centerpiece. How economical is that? I’ll just jazz them up a little with the recipe below.

In case you missed it, Valentine’s Day is also my one year blogaversary Giveaway and your chance to own an original Fifi by Fifi Flowers. Just click here to enter for the drawing!

Stawberries Romanoff

1 orange, for zest

4 tablespoons sugar

6 tablespoons water

4 tablespoons Cointreau or any orange-flavored liqueur

2 cups strawberries, quartered or halved

Whipped cream or topping

Peel wide strips of orange zest and cut into very thin strips. Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Add orange zest; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in liqueur and cool. Pour syrup over strawberries and let sit for 2 hours. Serve strawberries (looks cute in a martini glass) topped with whipped cream or topping.

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