Ever since my traumatic adolescence, I’ve made a point of trying to celebrate Valentine’s Day.  When I was a young, frisky thing, I was almost always ignored on cupid’s big day.  At my high school in Gloucester, Virginia, every Valentine’s Day there was a dreaded list read at the end of the school day. It consisted of all the students– naturally all girls– who had received flowers and needed to pick them up in the office.  My name was NEVER on that list, although I do think one year a friend took pity on me and brought me carnations at home.

Anyway, for many reasons, I’m a lucky lady now.  I married a sweet guy who likes to spoil me and enjoys eating out in restaurants.  We decided to go out for Valentine’s Day this year.  Originally, we were going to try a new to us place in Pliezhausen, but then I started seeing ads for Hotel La Casa’s Valentine’s Day event on Facebook.  Bill and I dined at Hotel La Casa’s Refugio restaurant last year and we were very impressed with it.  So we cancelled our reservations at the first place and booked a table at Refugio.

This was the ad that attracted me…

Normally, reserving at the hotel’s restaurant is very easy to do.  Just use OpenTable.de!  But because the hotel was running a special dinner complete with a musical guest, we had to call directly for tickets, which were 69 euros a piece and included everything but beverages.  They mailed us the tickets, which arrived a day after we ordered them.

Last night’s program consisted of Swing and Jazz Romance hits from the “Golden Twenties”, which isn’t as old fashioned as it might sound.  Virtuoso pianist Duncan Galloway and a male singer whose name I didn’t catch were playing classic hits like “I’m Confessin'”, “Witchcraft”, and “The Girl from Ipanema”.  It was quite enjoyable if you like that sort of thing… and I do.

Our view of the festivities.  We were at Table 1.  I was glad to see they had a full house!

The dinner consisted of four courses.  They had a vegetarian/vegan option and a meat option.  Bill and I opted for the regular meat option.

Bill takes in the scene.

There were candles and flowers and hearts everywhere…

I started with champagne.  Bill wanted a bottle of wine with dinner, but they brought him a glass. 

Then they brought out the amuse…  a curried shrimp with red cabbage and pesto.

Next came cod with pureed Jerusalem artichoke and spinach, topped with champagne sauce.

Crustacean soup!  This was delicious, with its clear, briny broth and two shrimp filled raviolis.

Then came the meat course.  This was veal with a medley of Italian vegetables.  I don’t actually eat veal very often, but I will admit this course was very nice.  I gave some of my veal to Bill, who has fewer moral objections to eating it.

A well satisfied date!

Finally, we had dessert, which was white chocolate mousse with hibiscus.  I probably would have preferred chocolate, but this was a nice, light ending.  

 

Hotel La Casa is a beautiful place and I’m hoping someday we can spend a weekend there, sans dogs (because they aren’t allowed).  The spa alone is tempting, but the restaurant is also excellent.  The food has been beautifully presented and delicious on both of our visits and the service is friendly and very professional.  I definitely recommend it for a great date night, especially if you like design.  The dining room is very stylish.

Yours truly, whispering sweet nasties in Bill’s ear.

I asked my Facebook friends if I should go for pretty or cuddly.  They all said cuddly, but Bill wanted pretty… so I went with pretty.  

Anyway, this was another successful Valentine’s Day celebration.  We had a great time and those traumatic memories of my youth have been successfully buried for yet another year.  I hope your Valentine’s Day was just as enjoyable!