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Valentine\u2019s Day.\xa0 Beloved by lovers, dreaded by the unpaired; anticipated by retailers, shunned by cynics of commercialism.\xa0 It doesn\u2019t matter which camp you belong to because this year is different.\xa0 It\u2019s a covid Valentine year.\xa0 For lovers looking to celebrate in restaurants or other venues, offerings and seats are limited.\xa0 For the singles looking to be with friends, unless you\u2019re in the same household or in a pod, gathering is ill-advised. If you\u2019re a business that sells anything vaguely romantic, you\u2019ll probably still get a sales bump and if you are a commercialism cynic like me, it\u2019s a good time to take a break and be happy for once that businesses have this chance to recoup lost sales.

My being a Valentine\u2019s day cynic has root cause in a less- than-active dating life during my college years.\xa0 To combat feeling pathetic about ourselves, my single friends and I formed the Sawing Palad group, which roughly translates to the Unfortunate or Unlucky, defiantly celebrating friendship over romance.\xa0 Every Valentine\u2019s day during our four years at college, the Sawing Palad would gather for dinner,\xa0 bring booze back to party at someone\u2019s home, rail against the stupidity of Valentine\u2019s Day, wonder why we were un-loveable, and have a bloody great time doing it.\xa0

And so I will celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day this year, but not as a lover or someone unpaired (am happily married now), nor a business, since my gigs and in-person cooking classes are suspended, and not as a cynic either, because I\u2019m rooting for the economy, but just because it\u2019s February 14, Valentine\u2019s Day. \xa0

In a pandemic situation, we should look for any excuse to celebrate.\xa0 \xa0Were there no dates of distinction, the days would rapidly look like any other, especially since many of us now work from home and the lines between work and personal are blurred. Were it not for Valentine \u2019s Day, this Sunday, would just be another Sunday.

Special dates, events (it snowed!) and deeds (paid off car!) are markers of time. \xa0It\u2019s a way our minds remember and make sense of personal histories.\xa0 And when we celebrate these markers, they are imbued with a sparkle of the extraordinary. To celebrate is to express gratitude.\xa0 When we celebrate, we notice and acknowledge that something is amazing and elevate the positive over the problems and negativity that assail our daily lives.\xa0 And if we can make celebrations a habit, then we create a habit of gratitude.\xa0

If you choose to celebrate Valentine\u2019s Day at home, take note of what you plan to do.\xa0 As we talk more about lifestyle cooking, you\u2019ll see that celebrating often is inherent to our journey.\xa0\xa0 And we\u2019ll want to replicate that as often as possible.\xa0 For those of you at a loss on exactly what you can do, consider some of these ideas:

1.\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0 Go for Beauty \xa0

Our inclination towards beauty is not superficial. \xa0Beauty gives us joy and feeds the soul.\xa0 Whether you\u2019re cooking at home or doing take out; celebrating with a romantic partner, with friends, family or especially if you are alone, a few changes can make the day feel different from other days. And there are many ways to add a bit of beauty to your celebrations, and they need not be expensive. \xa0

* de-clutter and make the dining space pretty.\xa0 Like many households during the pandemic where many work from home, the dining table now functions as office/study table.\xa0 In our house, Jeff takes the study and I work in the dining room.\xa0 It\u2019s too much of a hassle having to move my laptop and paperwork for every meal, so when not in use, they just get covered by a lovely runner.

* use candles, flowers, special vases to dress up the table

* go on and use the table cloth, china and cutlery you\u2019ve been saving for a special occasion; this is a special occasion!

* ditch the paper and plastic: use cloth napkins over paper napkins\u2014it\u2019s not only more refined, but better for the environment; \xa0and if you\u2019ve still been using paper or plastic cups, perhaps it\u2019s time to invest in proper drinking glasses

2. Bump up the Ambience

* get your playlist together.\xa0 Play music you like when you\u2019re cooking, dining and cleaning up.\xa0 Music is great for setting the tone whether you\u2019re going for energetic and fun, romantic or soothing.\xa0 If you have kids, the latter might be great for calming everyone down and to encourage dinner conversation.\xa0 When washing dishes, I put on Earth Wind and Fire, Devo and B-52\u2019s for a great groove.

* take a break from the gadgets.\xa0 Make dinner a gadget-free experience.\xa0 If you\u2019re used to having phones or tablets on the table during meals, their absence is guaranteed to differentiate this meal from others.

* play with lighting. \xa0\xa0Besides the candles, dimmed overhead lights and/or soft incandescent/off-white/yellow lighting from lamps are easy ways to soften up and make a space and everyone in it look more appealing. \xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0\xa0

\xa03. If you\u2019re cooking, cook the rainbow \xa0\xa0

While the mechanics of how and what to cook is not something we\u2019re covering in this post, you can always improve how a dish looks. \xa0Plan to cook with colors. \xa0We eat with our eyes, and a visually attractive plate is often colorful.\xa0 Think of a plate of chicken with gravy (brown) over mashed potatoes (yellow).\xa0 Now think of the plate of chicken with gravy (brown) over mashed sweet potatoes (orange) with saut\xe9ed spinach and blanched almonds (green and beige).\xa0 If you sprinkled red pepper flakes (red), you\u2019re getting five colors on your plate, an aesthetic ascribed to the Power of Five,\xa0 Japanese pillars of culinary tradition that not only encourages the use of five colors in meals, but also the five taste groups, and the five senses\u2014touch, smell, sight, sound, taste. This is something we\u2019ll get into more deeply later on, but for now, going for colors in your meal is the easiest thing to do to prettify your plate.

And there\u2019s a health benefit to this too. Vibrant colors are the visual cues of pigments that signify beneficial nutrients from plants and animals.\xa0 The orange in salmon and carrots for example, are carotenoids that are valuable anti-oxidants (the salmon get it from their food).\xa0 The deep greens in spinach (and your parsley garnish) are from chlorophyll, also associated with anti-oxidant as well as cancer-fighting properties.

How to add colors? If you can\u2019t incorporate them in the food themselves, you can always add afterwards with garnishes like parsley, cilantro and chives (green).\xa0 Brighten up seafood and fried foods with something tart\u2014a wedge of lemon (yellow) or sliced fresh tomatoes (red/orange), which also add great colors to the plate.\xa0 In Spring and Summer, I often garnish with edible flowers from the garden too.

These are a few simple ideas to make this Valentine\u2019s day special--something we can all easily do this weekend to get started on the habit of celebrating.\xa0 Lifestyle cooking is not only about integrating cooking into our daily lives but also about cultivating gratitude, which doesn\u2019t happen overnight. In a covid year, it\u2019s about finding ways to celebrate life; to find good news despite the overwhelming bad. For Valentine\u2019s Day this year, I\u2019ll be celebrating life and love, and love of life. \xa0Happy Valentine\u2019s Day to you and here\u2019s to celebrating well!

Author\u2019s note: Share your celebration with us.\xa0 What did you do that was special this Valentine\u2019s Day?