Valentine's Day Roundup 2012

Once again, the much-hated or much-awaited (depending on whether you're single or attached) Valentine's Day is here. It's a day for girls to receive free gifts from their admirers or loved ones, and for boys to spend bucketloads of money buying roses and whatnots. For those who are very much single and available, don't despair, because this is a day to celebrate your beautiful friendships with your friends, or to even celebrate your love for your family.

There's a million things I love about this picture, from pinterest 

Valentine's need not be stressful - I remember back in my secondary school days, I was in an all-girls school, so we would give each other thoughtful gifts for Valentine's - I still remember a bunch of us making trips down to Ikea and various crafts shops just to make handwritten and handmade gifts for our classmates and friends. And that is still the message of Valentine's that I carry with me today. For the past few Valentine's that I can remember, I still make it a point to have a Valentine's meal (which usually isn't on the 14th) with the best girl friends one can ever have. Besides, even if my boyfriend were here with me on Valentine's Day, I wouldn't want him to give me roses or bring me to a special restaurant to eat. For many reasons, first being everything is exorbitantly expensive on Valentine's, and there really is no purpose is trying to show off how much you love your other half on this Day and treat her/him like crap on the other days. So there. In any case, I love handmade stuff, and here are some quick last-minute gifts you can make (as cheesy as they may seem):

These are both fantastic ideas from Disney's Family Fun, and are really simple gifts, especially for children and students as gifts.

And while I'm on the topic of children and things that they can do/have, parents - you can make these for your child or even make it into a Valentine's project!

Heart shaped bento by Lisa

Teddy Bear Taco Tart by Beth

I'm not sure about you, but this meringue candy necklace reminds me of those candy I used to have as a kid - they had holes in them and were pastel colored and you could whistle through them! Anyone knows what I'm talking about?

Meringue Candy Necklace from Bakingdom

Okay, so I did a Valentine's Day roundup of some of the available ideas and recipes on the internet the last year, and I thought I'd do the same this year, because I am using some of the ideas to make some edible desserts for my family and friends and I thought it might be helpful for some of you, to perhaps spark some creativity in you for you to make your own edible gift! So bring on the reds and pinks and chocolates!

Again, starting with breakfast, what about some:

• heart shaped raspberry pancakes! Again, naturally pink :]
• heart shaped crepes? They are as easy as making pancakes!
• the ubiquitous red velvet pancakes, again in shapes of hearts.
• Sourdough oatmeal pancakes, with strawberry butter, which is what I personally will be making for breakfast (if I can wake up early enough)

 Here are some more ideas:

blood orange curd filled beet donuts? naturally red :]

Heart shaped french toast with stewed berries by Marina 

Heart-shaped breadsticks by mealpod

Or it could be a healthy heart-shaped granola bar!

For my gluten-free friends, there's a round-up specially for you here!

And moving onto lunch! My favorites - pizza and lasagna :]

Pizza in the shape of a heart :]

And a hearty lasagna, pun intended ;p

And this by Haniela, is ingenious. Simple, and my favorite carbohydrate.

And onto my favorite meal/dish - DESSERT :D

• A raspberry and chocolate tart perhaps?
• Some cheesy hearts (pun intended) if you're craving something savory?
• lovebird cookies? 
• Or peanut butter cookies with a chocolate heart, so simple even a little boy can make it!
• Some lychee raspberry mousse?

one of my favorite flavor combinations,  madeleines ispahan by Evan

similar flavor combination - raspberry lychee mousse perhaps? 

Intertwining ring cookies - how's that for something unique?

you cannot get any cuter than with domokun hearts!

A hidden heart in a heart cupcake! From Veronica who got her idea from Desert Living Today

My favorite linzer hearts

Moving onto the not so easy now, how about some heart-shaped macarons made by yours truly?

white chocolate raspberry cheesecake with hearts!

A healthy pomegranate cranberry heart?

Not forgetting a red velvet cake!

blackberry no-bake cheesecake by Yelena

And if you have the time (and skill) to make more elaborate stuff, do consider these!

lulu's rose heart cake - simply ethereal

red velvet cupcakes with roses

Another lovely entremet by Pook

Yet another one by Evan - same flavors, but in different forms

I also love these cakes - a valentine cake with a surprise and a rustic chocolate valentine cake!

And finally, my favorite ingredient of all time - chocolate. Here's a photograph of a cake I've been wanting to try from one of my favorite photographers/stylists. It's simple, fudgy and rustic, just the way I like my chocolate cakes :]

Chocolate Fudge cake by Katie

As always, all pictures are credited to their rightful owners - I don't own any of them besides the macaron photo. So get those creative juices flowing because Valentine's Day is just two days away! :]