C & I have gotten into the habit of watching American TV together once or twice a week. It's good for his English and it gives me my TV fix for the week. And as I've mentioned before, it also has the added bonus of being culturally informative. While he may not yet understand why Americans eat ice cream straight out of the carton, he at least knows that if he ever sees me doing it, he should either back slowly out of the room or come bearing flowers. Or both.
This past week, we ended up watching the Valentine's episodes of a few different shows. I could see he was confused about all the V-day talk and was just not quite grasping the importance of it in the US. So I pressed pause and explained what a big holiday (for better or for worse) it actually was. He was pretty surprised and exclaimed "You should've told me before!"
It's true, I hadn't really said anything - I was actually sort of looking forward to spending a low-key day together before I left on another work trip. I bought the fixings for an American-style brunch, sugar cookies (his fav) and then homemade pizzas at night, but that was about it. And to be honest, I'd spent so much time thinking about what to get him for Christmas and then for his 30th birthday that I just wasn't ready for another big holiday so soon. Plus Le Figaro said that only 18% of the 10,000 people they'd polled planned on celebrating V-day. So I was quite surprised when C took this new bit of knowledge very seriously. People, he got flowers AND a gift. In a continuation of his never-ending quest to make sure I'm not cold, he went out and bought quite possibly the thickest blanket I have ever seen. It is ginormous and I swear to God it weighs about 10 kg. I am hoping it will not suffocate me.
But because my
I only wish I was kidding.
C has not yet seen The Crazy, so I decided against freaking out and instead just set about cleaning up the giant mess. The crust was surprisingly still in one piece- but with no veggies or sauce left, I couldn't really make another pizza. I did however have plenty of cheese left, so I sprinkled some powdered garlic on the crust and covered it with mozzarella and what do you know - it turned out to be the best darn cheesy bread I've ever made. I actually liked it better than C's pizza.
The duvet however did not fare so well, and is now covered in orange splotches - anyone have any magical advice for removing tomato sauce stains?Labels: La Shoebox, My Funny Valentine
posted by Ksam @ 8:45 PM
13 Comments:
Some of those whitening products in the super market actually work pretty well.
Oh no!!!
Girl, I HEAR you about the whole Christmas/Birthday/Valentine's thing...it's insane trying to think of creative and thoughtful gifts three times in rapid succession. Add to this the fact that S and my anniversary is December 20th and you can see why I get a bit insane around this time....AAAAH!
So sorry to hear about the duvet! I think the whitening products do work well and there are some crazy ones that you could import from the States that may work. I'm thinking of the crazy infomercial stuff that actually does the trick.
Oh dear!
No advice for the duvet... But how sweet and considerate of him to get it for you!!
There is absolutely no trace of Valentine's in Hong Kong as Chinese New Year this year fell on the 14th! So I barely even thought about it, though I am currently in a relationship.
V-day just isn't that important outside of the North America. So I guess it is always touch and go when you are dating a foreigner!
I remember that my two French boyfriends were completely oblivious to the day. So I was not expecting anything from my new German man. When we first started dating a few months ago, he told me that he couldn't understand the "American" phenomenon of making such a big deal out of commercialized holidays such as V-day. Also (don't know if this is really true), Germans typically get a bad rap of being more pratical and less romantic (though, my German is super duper considerate and sweet, just not in that saccharine/super lovey-dovey sorta way)!
So imagine my surprise when he presented me with a Valentine's gift a couple of days ago...Nope, not flowers or chocolate, but... a webcam!!! He is moving back to Europe at the end of the month and we are gonna do the long distance thing via Skype! So awesome and thoughtful.
I guess sometimes it's awesome to expect nothing and get surprised!
My advice, if it's cotton or polyester, is:
1- Put some detergent (with a little water) on the stain, rub it in and let it sit for a couple of hours.
2- Put it in the washer to soak in cold water overnight with detergent and oxiclean.
3- Run the washer as normal. Make sure the stain is out before you dry it.
Hope it helps!
Is the duvet white enough that you could just use bleach? I am not the right person to be asking about this, but if there's any products you need sent over from the states, let me know!
How unfortunate - but also how adorable that C wanted you to have a valentine's day à l'américaine!
oh man. That's too bad. Something similar happened to me my first year in military school. My parents came to visit and took me out for pizza. The first piece- right in my lap on my white uniform pants. Ahhh!
(sorry, no magical fixes for getting it out that I know of)
Mother of a toddler here. Many stains removed! I use white vinegar & baking soda. Woeks wonders!
Oh yeah. And leaving it in direct sunlight (not through window, but outside) will bleach natural stains from white.
uh oh....SAUCE all over your new white duvet?? He's not gonna like that :p
Sounds like he went out of his way to celebrate a sweet Valentine's Day with you...glad to hear it :)
Let's catch up soon!
(oh and I brought The Crazy when I ran a tube of lip gloss thru the wash one time with Max's white uniform shirts...I played dumb and blamed it on his mom)
K2R (in a spray can from any supermarket): I use it on Kevin's chef's uniform every week!
Oh no! It sounds too big to launder easily (especially in a small French washer) so I suggust buying a nice duvet cover for it and he will never know! Happy Valentine's Day!
Hi Sam,
So glad you met someone that is treating you well!! He seems to be a guy that really thinks how to brighten your day with 'little' things. ;>))
Try to clean the stains on the duvet with dish washing liquid, like Palm Olive. Wet the spot with luke warm water and add a little of the soap and rub it in. Rinse off with water and repeat if necessary. If the stain is persistent, leave the soap in for a while before rinsing. I remove oil, Wine, grass stains etc. using this method. Never use any stain remover. Hope it still will help in your case.
Kat ~ from the (very cold!!) Sunshine State
oxy clean! it's the best by far, and i sure hope you can get it in paris. if you can't, have someone send it to you chop chop. just make a paste of water and the oxyclean, leave it sit for ten minutes, rinse and repeat if necessary.
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