#ValentineDay | Valentina Expressions

Today In Red | Valentina Cirasola | Designer and Author

I can’t hardly get serious on Valentine’s Day celebration, the most commercial of all the festivities. Some people need to celebrate it for some obscure reason to feel loved.

cupid-funny-valentines-day-pictures

This card is sold on Amazon by NobleWork

Of course, Belgian chocolate with marine salt is the best and has no competition, except chocolate with chili pepper. Try it, you will never go back to any other excitement, well, I am joking, the taste of these two types of chocolates will put you on an elevated state of pleasure, just like good sex, perhaps.

Really, who needs to receive Valentine’s card written by a stranger?

Lavazza Coffee Calendar

In 2011, Lavazza, an Italian coffee company, made a creative romantic calendar. Every month of that calendar had dreamy photos with an Italian panorama and of course the coffee in one form or another.

Lavazza Coffee Calendar

Erte’

I would rather receive a heart like this on Valentine’s day. It’s the art of Erte’ a Russian-born French artist and designer of the 20th-century. He designed in an array of fields, including fashion, jewelry, graphic arts, costume and set design for film, theatre, and opera, and interior decor. I see an oversized dress with this heart on.

Hearts made in any shape and material attract me, they pump and vibrate, even when they are static on the paper. In fact, I have put a large heart on the cover of one of my books ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors, Second Edition, it is the only thing that contains all my passions.

Suede Shoe and RED

I have been away a few days from blogging, I am preparing my trip to Europe, where I will be working on the renovation of a historical private home. I have had to do a lot of preparation, gathering info and design ideas for the work, I have had little time to think of frivolities, ouch, that’s not good, I love frivolities.

I will take this pair of red suede shoes with a pack of my book ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors, Second Edition with me for a presentation at the Art Institute, it will be very interesting to talk to art students about colors.
“Red always has its meaning.”

Enjoy your Valentine’s Day, wear red, be funky, be original. I hope you will get what you want and don’t take this celebration too seriously. Ciao,
Valentina
Fashion Services
https://valentinadesigns.com/services#fashion-services

Valentina Cirasola is a trained Fashion and Interior Designer, born in Italy in a family of artists. Style has surrounded her since the very beginning of her life. Her many years of experience in design business led her to offer consultations in both fashion and interiors, and now she can remodel homes as well as personal images. She is passionate about colors and encourages her clients to express their individual style in their homes and with the clothes they wear. She is the author of five books, one of which is a book on color theory: ©RED – A Voyage Into Colors, Second Edition available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
She would love to work with you on your wardrobe and find your individual style.

On Time For Valentine’s Day | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

Chocolate almonds

Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone.

A celebration of heat and passion, Valentine’s day, comes in February one of the coldest month of the year. For some people there will not be anybody to cuddle with. I agree with some of them who think expectation and pressure to perform well is high on this day. I suggest celebrating Leap Year in alternative to Valentine’s Day. It would be so easy for the unattached people to shift their attention from Valentine’s Day to an unusual celebration that comes only every four years.

(http://www.today.com/style/10-fun-valentines-day-gifts-your-friends-1C854429

I remember one year I gathered all my nice single people and celebrated entering into Lent time. After that event, some of them got married, some are still living together and in the meantime ten years have gone by. Did I want to be a match maker? No, but my choice of friends was so selected that I slipped right into that role.
So far I have read about Valentine’s day in “all sauces and soups” sort of speaking, from table settings, to bedroom romance.

Here it is something simple, healthy, fast and easy, good for Valentine’s Day or any other celebration. It will take me less than an hour and it will be perfect.

Olive Oil Roasted Almonds
This is a nice complement to a cheese variety.
Place the almonds in a baking pan. Grate the peel of an orange.
Add a couple of spoons of extra-virgin olive oil, sea salt to your liking and coat the almonds well.
Bake at 350˚ F. for about 10-12 minutes. Serve in a nice bowl.
Almond can also be savory, roasted with rosemary and garlic, or herbs de Provence and they can be made sweet with brown sugar, or honey.

Grape Covered in Chocolate
For a spin on a classic romantic strawberries covered in chocolate.
Wash and pat dry seedless grape.
In a saucepan combine 4 oz. of milk 2 tablespoon of butter and 4 oz. of dark semi-sweet chocolate.
Stir over low heat until chocolate is melted completely.
Dip each grape in the chocolate holding it by the stem.

Sit them on a cooling rack. Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until chocolate is firm.
Use the same chocolate to cover Jalapeño (photo at the top). Serve them together with the grape to get the sweet and the spicy hot, I guarantee you will add some extra heat to your romance.

I will present to my friends a simple bites, some small tartletts with wild mushrooms, stuffed mussels
(from my book http://outskirtspress.com/SinsOfAQueen) and some extavagant cheeses.

I have just enough time to get the prosecco, the table and myself ready for some friends to come over.

I hope you will have wonderful time celebrating the day of love, but please don’t wait for Valentine’s Day to express your love to someone. Ciao,
Valentina
www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina Cirasola is an Italian Interior Designer with a passion for kitchens and cooking.
She especially loves to design all those rooms with a “make me feel good” tag attached, such as kitchens and wine grottos, outdoor kitchens and outdoor rooms, great rooms and entertainment rooms. She is a public speaker and a mentor. She is also the author of two Italian regional cuisine books, available here in this site on the Books page, on Amazon, Barnes & Nobles and in various locations.
http://outskirtspress.com/ComeMiaNonna