On Love, Magnum, Paris and Superheroes (Our Valentine’s Day Story)

Valentine’s Day started a few days early for me this year.

A few days before Valentine’s Day, I came back to my work desk and saw this.

Apparently, hubby came home with this package of super yummy peanut butter and banana cupcakes and left it on my desk to surprise me.

So sweet, right? He’s not normally big on romantic gestures but he can be really thoughtful when he wants to be. This was super appreciated especially because it came in the middle of a very hectic work week. Thanks, Buhr!

Anyway, we didn’t have major plans for Valentine’s Day except for wanting to go watch Paddington the movie. The girls were out to spend the weekend with their dad and his family. So, it was just me and my boys. We just gave the girls some chocolates before they left for the weekend.

Since I wanted to give the hubby a surprise too, I decided to take them to SM Aura. All the while he was thinking we were just there to watch Paddington. Little did he know, I also planned to surprise him and Ziggy with lunch at Magnum Cafe. Hubby had been eyeing the restaurant for ages. So, I thought Valentine’s Day would be the perfect time to go.

He got surprised alright. Haha! Mission accomplished. Ziggy got so excited too upon seeing the Make Your Own Magnum bar, which I sadly wasn’t able to take a photo of. But I got to take a photo of this really cool wall installation that they have in the restaurant. They used Magnum bar sticks to make this. Really creative.

I loved the warm, modern look of the place. The staff were welcoming and accommodating. Some of them even stopped by at our table just to chat with Ziggy.

Everything in their menu looks delish! We ended up ordering the following: Baked Mussels in Fundido, Magnum Bolognese, Asian Steak Salad and for dessert, the Make Your Own Valentine Trio.

The Baked Mussels in Fundido is composed of Chilean mussels baked with seasoned crumbs, salsa, and homemade Mexican cheese sauce. I ordered this because it looked really good on the photo. I didn’t disappoint. I love it! You can’t go wrong with cheese and salsa.

Ziggy ordered the Magnum Bolognese because he loves spaghetti. This one is different though. It’s made of slow simmered minced meat with pomodoro, finished with Belgian chocolate shavings. So yummy! Ziggy wasn’t able to finish the whole serving (because it’s big enough to share) but he ate a lot of it.

Hubby has been ordering mostly salads recently whenever we go out. So it was not surprising that he ordered this Asian Steak Salad. It’s made of seared rib eye steak tossed with fresh greens, sweet corn, crisp wontons in an Asian style sweet-savory dressing. I love steak and so I was mostly pleased with this dish. I just wish the dressing wasn’t so citrusy.

Of course, we couldn’t leave the place without having a Magnum bar. Since it was valentine’s Day, their featured dessert was the Make Your Own Valentine Trio, which was perfect for us because there were three of us. What can I say about it? Magnum-rrific! It’s just too bad the girls missed it. But I guess that just means we have to go back to Magnum Cafe soon.

Afterwards, we went to Bonifacio High Street because the Paddington movie wasn’t scheduled until 8 p.m. When we got to BHS, we were surprised by several individuals in superhero costumes, who were giving away free flowers and free hugs to people passing by.

Ziggy was so happy to see Spiderman, his favorite superhero. He gamely posed with him, of course and high-fived him on more than one occasion. I, on the other hand, was given this really nice flower with a sweet message, by no less than The Flash. Hahaha!

There was also a fake Eiffel Tower in BHS where a lot of people were taking photos. It was nice to pretend to be in Paris. I guess, it would be extra special and extra romantic to spend Valentine’s Day in Paris. Haha! Someday I hope to do so, for real.

We went to see Paddington the movie afterwards, which is a great, funny movie for the family.

Overall, it was a pretty chill Valentine’s Day celebration. It might not make somebody else’s list of top romantic celebrations but I was pretty happy with it.

How did you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Do share in the comments!