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Sometimes I envy students because they still have the time to celebrate Valentines on the exact day. I don’t envy the fact that they’d actually have to brave the horrible traffic and would probably be stuck for hours on end and then spend the rest of the evening in a restaurant full of other love birds who would be cooing sweet nothings at each other.

At my age, I rarely enjoy this luxury. I spend time at home (who am I kidding? I actually run as fast as I could to get back home before traffic jams start) and whip up something for myself. In any case, I normally enjoy either pre- or post-Valentine dates because of ultra busy schedules. And since both my date and I are undergoing transitions, having resigned from our previous jobs  and are waiting for the next pay from our new jobs, we opted to just do something ultra cheap but enjoyable. In other words: he bought the ingredients, I cooked. =P

This was actually inspired by Michelle Cu-Martinez’s blog post about her steak. She likes Angus rib-eye steak, but my favorite is sirloin because it’s the softest and easiest for me to chew.

First. I actually enjoyed wearing this apron. Haha!

Some second wave feminists would probably rage at me for wanting to be so…domestic. But being a third wave feminist myself, I actually welcome this domesticity and embrace it as a break from all that power woman stuff I immerse myself in on a daily basis.

And then I received these.

I actually am not a flower-loving person, but you have got to admit that it’s nice to be treated like a special lady once in a while. Considering our budget, I would actually appreciate an illustrated bouquet in much the same manner because I love hand-made things.

Anyway, the thing that makes this an ultra cheap date is the fact that you can actually buy a kilo of sirloin steak for about PhP375-500, depending on which grocery you prefer. Thing is, we didn’t even need a kilo. About 1/4th of it will do. (So now I have lots of extra meat in my fridge and since I am not a regular meat eater, I’m figuring out what to do with it.)

Process: 
The cut was about an inch (so thick!!!) so I had to do things differently from Michelle’s style. I rubbed the steak with salt and pepper, put the pan on medium heat for about 8 minutes, greased the pan with a bit of butter (this gives the steak a sort of caramelized looking dark-brown layer), and cooked each side of steak for about 5 minutes each.

It’s important to cook it at very low heat so that your steak wouldn’t be burnt on the outside and super raw (oh gee, parasites galore) on the inside. I wanted it to have that caramelized-looking exterior and a soft and delightfully pink interior. I thought it was going to be kind of tricky because of the meat’s thickness.

Result:
Tadaaa!!!

I boiled some baby potatoes in thyme, rosemary, sage and basil. I also cut up some organic lettuce and prepared some balsamic vinegar, olive oil and parmesan cheese dressing on a separate dish. These served as sidings.

This one’s mine. I sprinkled some toasted garlic on it.

I didn’t put anything else on the steak because I read somewhere in Cracked.com that good meat would bring out its own flavor without too many spices. And true enough, it was already good with just the salt and pepper. The garlic just gave it a kick for me. (Besides, I’m obsessed with garlic. Vampires will never be able to touch me…unless they’re fake ones from Twilight.)

This one is his. We didn’t expect this lunch date to pack a whallop but it did. It’s so filling, we didn’t even need that many baby potatoes.

We capped off this lovely lunch with simple home-made iced tea, which I usually create by brewing hot fruit tea, letting it steep for about 5-15 minutes, sweetening it with either Ilog Maria’s virgin honey (which I actually use as health supplement) or coco sugar.  I avoid white sugar like the plague. With all my stress-related health problems, I never want to add diabetes to that list (especially since it’s embedded in my genes).