Valentine Taser Gun or Cupid's Arrow?

Valentines is a loaded gun. Okay, I am a bit of a passivist but a bit of a sadist so Taser gun is more befitting. Sure love and flowers and candles make for a memorable evening, but that's my ordinary MO during the week (yes, I know..lucky) but still the question looms- to make a fuss?

I come from the no muss no fuss world for this hallmark of all holidays, party pooper I am not, but waiting for a certain holiday to profess my gratitude leaves me feeling like a fraud. If effort can be made each and everyday simple pleasures trump any heart shaped box of chocolates although don't get me wrong...I can inhale a box of chocolates with Olympic gusto. The Valentine pix fixe dinner menus always feel a little forced ( unless it's fleur de lys in The City.)

What I long for is the cafe experience, the glass of Cava as an aperitif in the evening with Mi amour in Barcelona celebrating La Diada de Sant Jordi (Saint George) patron saint of the six million inhabitants of Catalonia. This is easily the most most giddy and amorous day of the year in this most romantic of cities.

This April holiday is like Valentine's Day "The Day of Lovers," La Diada de Sant Jordi. The main event is the exchange of gifts between sweethearts--men give roses, and women give a book to celebrate the occasion. Roses have been associated with this day since medieval times, but the giving of books is a more recent marketing ploy. In 1923, a smart bookseller started to promote the holiday as a way to honor the nearly simultaneous deaths of Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare on April 23, 1616. Barcelona is the publishing capital of the Spanish-speaking world and this heady one-two punch of love and literacy was quickly adopted.
On Barcelona's principal streets, Las Ramblas, and Pasig de Gracia hundreds of stands of roses and makeshift bookstalls have been hastily set up for the occasion. By the end of the day, some four million roses and 400,000 books will have been purchased in the name of love. Now that's something to make a heart pitter patter.

So what's the ideal scenario to make the most of Valentine's day?.................................... Skip it, no not really. Enjoy. A signed book is always a sweeter gift for your sweetie btw.