Winter seems to be dragging on for too long – for those of us who love the sun!
So it was fantastic to see clumps of snowdrops and crocuses coming up together in a corner of the local park today.
Flowers may be at the forefront of many people’s minds just now, since good old Valentine left a note for his jailer’s daughter signed ‘Your Valentine’ and started the whole thing off.
That was in Roman times. Apparently, Valentine was a priest who fell foul of the Emperor Claudius for conducting marriage ceremonies between young soldiers and their beloveds. The Emperor preferred his legionnaires to remain single and focused on their fighting skills, undistracted by any notion of wedded bliss.
Well, that’s one theory anyway. Another is that it’s all based on a fertility festival in honour of the god Lupercus.
However it started, the Victorians really took hold of it, pretty cards came on to the market and now around a billion are sent out every year.
A special card, flowers and chocolates are all lovely to receive, of course. I wonder how many are really anonymous – not sure how that tradition came about.
Dinner in a restaurant is great, too, but usually an expensive treat on the day itself. A romantic dinner at home can be fun, too. Plenty of foods are thought of as aphrodisiacs – chocolate (naturally!), avocado, asparagus, salmon, chillies, figs, bananas and watermelon among them.
The Egyptians swore by radishes. And the smell of almond and vanilla does it for some people, allegedly. Well, they are gorgeous!
Best wishes
Marion
Dairy Diary Team
How about an irresistible Valentine’s Day dessert?
Try this wicked Tropical Ginger Creams recipe from Good Food, Fast – you can whip up in just 15 minutes? And we still have a few copies for sale at just £9.99. Click here to view pages.
Follow us on Twitter
Become a fan
The first Bramley tree grew from pips planted by a young girl, Mary Ann Brailsford, in her garden in Southwell in 1809. Matthew Bramley (local butcher) bought the cottage and garden in 1846 and ten years later Henry Merryweather (local nurseryman), took cuttings from the tree and started to sell the apples bearing the owners name.
The date corresponds to the new moon in either late January or February. The Chinese calendar is different from that used in the United Kingdom. It is made up of a cycle of twelve years, each of them being named after an animal. This is very like our signs of the zodiac. Some people believe that people born in a particular year such as the year of the Dog will have some of the characteristics of that animal.
Dairy Diary Chat 