I've never been a huge V-day supporter. I'm not one of those girls who puts so much stock in what my significant other gets me. This was good news for my husband, because he's a guy. Need I say more? However, I do think it's fun to do a little something special. So what did we do? Had pork tenderloin. HA The food of romance. We did get each other some small gifts though.
I will share my pork recipe, but since it's Valentine's Day, I want to share some things I've learned in my 1.5 years of marriage. I know, it's not very long. But don't they say the first year is the hardest? So, here's my list.
1. Make time for each other. As I mentioned before, my husband is a pharmacist and I'm a school speech pathologist. I have normal working hours...he does not. This was a huge stress factor early in our marriage. We got married while I was finishing grad school so I was student teaching and driving out to Kent twice a week for night classes. Bob was working until 10 a lot of nights. So needless to say, we barely saw each other. While this was hard, it made the time we did have together that much better. And we always made time. Did I pass up plans with friends so that I could spend the evening with my hubby? Yes. Do I regret it? Not at all. I know my true friends won't be offended. It's so easy to get caught up in your separate schedules but I don't know what I would do without my hubby time. When I get home from work earlier than he does, I count the minutes until he gets home!
2. Do things your partner loves, even if you aren't crazy about it. OK--this is something I'll admit I still need to work on. There will be days when Bob wants to go to Lowe's and I'm like, uughhhhh I just wanna watch The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (we all know we love it). On his end, Bob is great about doing things I love. For example, "honey let's go to JoAnn Fabrics! I really need fabric to make this purse I'm dying to try." And he'll go with me! (sorry to out you, Bob) I know he has absolutely no interest in fabric but he knows I love it. Just like I know he loves wood working and could spend hours at Lowe's.
3. Agree to disagree. Newsflash: Bob and I get in fights. I know, you're all shocked! ;) But seriously, all couples fight. It's just a fact of life. Our basic fighting pattern is as follows. "What's wrong?" "Nothing." "OK" "No it's not nothing, I'm mad!" "Well I'm mad because you're mad" and so on and so forth. We give each other our space, and then always end up talking it out. I read once that you have to learn how to fight. This is something we're still learning and getting better at everyday. Bob and I are both very stubborn, and we both like to be right. This is clearly not a good combination. So I've learned that sometimes it's better to stop worrying about who is "right" and just agree to disagree. Of course, when this comes to serious matters it doesn't always apply. But for the most part, it's helpful to put yourself in the other person's shoes and think, "is this really a big deal?" For me, usually the answer is NO!
OK--enough mush. Time for food. This is one of my tried and true recipes that I always go back to.
Ingredients
1 pork tenderloin
1/4 cup hoisin sauce (If you don't have this, you need it--I use it in everything! You can find it in the Asian aisle at any grocery store.)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon ginger (fresh or ground)
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
Mix the sauce ingredients together. Usually I glaze the pork while it's grilling but since it's winter I tried it in the oven. It turned out amazing. So, you can grill it and glaze as it cooks. OR you can bake it, covered, at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes (depending on how well you like it done). This picture does not do it justice. It was the best I could do since I was starving and had already started eating....
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