To me, this photo is the perfect Valentine’s dinner. I’m a simple gal.

But my husband likes things a little fancier. He’s a fantastic gift-giver and he’d put a fourth mortgage on the house just to buy me something sparkly for V-Day.

He’s a sweet man. But that puts a lot of pressure on a girl to come up with something nice to give him on special occasions.

This year, though, I’ve got it all worked out.

We went to visit some dear friends in Boston this fall. Our trip was amazing. They actually live in a seaside town right on the water and the fall colors were beginning to pop around their property.

We watched the Red Sox win the World Series on TV during our stay and almost every night we went to a new place for steak and lobster. It doesn’t get much better than that.

You’d think we’d tire of the same meal, but we couldn’t get enough.

Sadly, we haven’t had lobster since.

So. . . this Valentine’s Day, I have ordered this steak and lobster tail combo. Since we can’t go to the lobster, I’m bringing the lobster to us.

My husband will be thrilled and I get to pat myself on the back. Finally.

My order should arrive tomorrow (or is it Friday?) So I’ll just have to enforce the “no peeking” rule when going in the freezer.

I’ll let you know how it works out!

Hi! Dena here. The holidays just passed and, if you’re like me, you’re still coming down from the high of continuous Christmas music, family bonding and an exhorbitant amount of food.

We had a fantastic time being surrounded by loved ones, but secretly, our favorite part of the holidays is the food.

For Christmas, we smoked a turkey in our smoker which we rubbed with a bbq seasoning and served it with hickory smoked spiral-cut ham and all the fixings — mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, dinner rolls and various other sides.

So what if my kids had ham and Cheezits? We’ll work on refining their palates next year.

But our favorite holiday meal, hands down, was New Year’s Eve. My husband and I put our kids to bed and sat together at the dining room table to enjoy two amazing steaks, baked potatoes and a bottle of wine.

Michael (that’s my husband) likes a KC Strip, thick and juicy. So that’s what he got. I, on the other hand, must have a T-bone, medium well with Teriyaki sauce. It may sound kind of strange but I love it! We would rather sit at our own table with the steaks we love than go to any restaurant in town.

I mean, what steakhouse is going to have Teriyaki sauce on hand?

The wine? A bottle of White Zinfandel. Yeah, I know. Now you can see where our kids got their love of Cheezits.

We’ll have to be better about branching out and trying other wines that may be better suited.

I’m going to check out the Wine Pairings section on www.KansasCitySteaks.com next time. We need help in that department.

So, how about you? What were your holiday dinners like? Were they traditional like mine? Or did you serve something amazingly original that we need to know about? I’d love to hear about it!

Want to make a lasting impression on your friends and family this holiday season? Check out our wide variety of recipes for special sauces, holiday meals, rubs and more in our “Categories” section to the right.

You’ll find things like step-by-step instructions for making a Cranberry Teriyaki Sauce, holiday meal and appetizer ideas in our Holiday Meals category and much more.

Come back to these resources again and again to perfect tried and true classics like Prime Rib or to try something new.

We want to help you celebrate the season with great food.