Date night – raclette dining for two

A year of feasting!

Hey guys, welcome back! If this is your first time here hello my name is Laurie, thanks so much for stopping in! I truly appreciate it because I know how super busy life can get!  And that my dear friends is the perfect segue into this series and post! 😉

Yay!!!!

I’m joining in with some awesome bloggy friends again but this time we are presenting, “A Year of feasting”. This series is hosted by my buddy the über talented and completely sweet, Dannyelle she blogs over at, Life is a Party. She is a must follow in my books!

I’m pretty pumped to share our sponsor too, they were so very generous and provided us with a gift card to go shopping. Thanks so much Giant Tiger, Bud and I had a blast shopping for our special night in and our very first post for, a year of feasting.

I bet you’re wondering by now what a year of feasting is exactly? Well it’s an opportunity to gather with friends and loved ones to laugh, visit, eat and take the time in this crazy busy social media focused world and stay connected beyond our computers… all of us bloggers will be sharing lots of different ways you to can stay connected with your fam jam, your friends and your significant other by sharing different ways to feast.  In this post I will be sharing how Bud and I carved out some time for ourselves, unplugged and prepared our date just like we would have done if a crowd of guests were coming over… I don’t mean tons of food, I mean we were deliberate about setting the ambience and taking the time to make our date night an evening in, focusing on making it very special. Haha, although there were tons of leftovers, am I the only one that make too much food?

Date Night

I must tell you it’s the strangest thing to edit photos of your self… especially when you still feel as young as you did when you met each other, hahaha (hello fine lines). I met this wonderful man when I was 15 years old, that’s so crazy to me when you say it out loud… it feels like yesterday and it feels like a life time all in the same breath, does that make sense? We’ve been through so much together and like most couples I imagine do, we sometimes let our busy lives get in the way and before you know it, it feels like it’s been forever since you’ve sat down and looked into each other’s eyes and just talked, connected and unplugged from the noisy world. Thankfully we often do unplug and shut the world off, we don’t however make a big to-do about it, walks and cuddle movie times usually, diners out yes for sure but this date night felt very different because we took the time to fuss and prepare, like it was a special occasion. And my dear friends… it is a special occasion to take that time to look into the eye of the person you love… I know cheesy, but life is such a crazy ride, a strong marriage and friendship is a rare gift that deserves so much care.

Tinted glasses, I was that cool! Oh my goodness!

What is a raclette grill?

Let me preface this by saying I’m NOT a foodie… haha, not even close. Have you ever heard of a raclette? I was completely in the dark up until a few years ago and now, I don’t think I’d ever go without one in my home. The best part about a raclette grill in my humble opinion, it’s so easily customizable to your own food preferences and tastes! The first time we participated in this way of eating blew my mind.  And one of my other favourite things about a raclette… cheese, all the yummy melted gooey cheese. I think I have a slight cheese obsession frankly. Raclette dining is so easy really, you basically chop up your favourite ingredients and plop the grill in the middle of your table and start indoor grilling! So easy, very fun and extremely social. It can be as formal as you’d like with cute DIY labels for all of your different foods for your guests or as casual as you’d like,  we didn’t make labels because this was for the two of us and we shopped together, that would have been overkill. It’s also a very nice relaxing and slow way to eat, perfect for catching up and connecting.

We always prep the ingredients we will be grilling ahead of time, this time it was an added level to date night because we chopped and prepped together, no rushing around, just relaxed, laughter and each other.

I have had raclette many times, this time I tried grilling some fresh fruit, oh my scrumptiousness! The mango and pineapple were my fave! Garlic bread… so good! I have to start shopping at GT more often the grocery selection is awesome!

I love our easy DIY dessert cups filled with crinkle paper , tied with bakers twine and overflowing with Easter goodies… warning they may be irresistible while you wait for your food to grill, but that’s okay, raclette’s have 0 rules.

And hello cute little DIY drink garnish. I cut the top off of the pineapple and washed it, I then sliced it in half trimmed it to fit into the top of the glass, it’s just cute and makes me smile! I love these glasses I bought from Giant Tiger, they really reminded me of pineapples, I picked up 2 pink (shown here) and 2 yellow… aren’t they so much fun?!

We also purchased some candles from Giant Tiger and gathered my vintage milk glass collection together, this very easy vignette gave us a really pretty glow, it was very romantic! And hello daylight savings, sunshine!

We really enjoyed our wonderful date night in, our first post for a year of feasting… that was so much fun! Date nights are so important, we’ve realized we need to do date night in more often!

Now, I can’t wait to check out all my bloggy friend’s amazing Spring Feasts, I sure hope we’ve enticed you to have your own #YearOfFeasting

THE DIY MOMMY – LIFE IS A PARTY – VINYETE ETC.

PERSONALLY ANDREA – KIM POWER STYLE – THE LEARNER OBSERVER

WOMAN IN REAL LIFE – FLOURISH AND KNOT – LOVE CREATE CELEBRATE

AMIDST THE CHAOS – PMQ FOR TWO – THE DREAM HOUSE PROJECT

Thank you so much for stopping in, until next time! xoxo

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Disclosure:  My new mason jar glasses were provided by Giant Tiger, aren’t they pretty?  I truly do love them! All opinions, thoughts and pictures are my own.