Most Valentine's Day traditions revolve around not flowers, but food
MAPLE GROVE, Minn. -- We will see many expressions of the heart on Valentine's Day. Flowers, cards, candy, and jewelry are among the most popular gifts for Valentine's Day. They are all small tokens of love that we share with partners or family.
"You've got to get flowers. I think that's just a must have," said Joey HT, of Maple Grove.
"I mean, flowers I think are kind of a waste of money," said Linda Harrison, also of Maple Grove.
People might not agree on the best go-to practices for Valentine's Day gifts, but there is one thing synonymous with cupid's day -- food.
"Get a good meal, have some peace and quiet. Just us," said Malin Linderholm, of Buffalo.
"I've been married for, let me think, 28 years and my husband & I have never gone out on Valentine's Day. What we do is we always do a nice romantic dinner at home," said Harrison.
Kevin Frazier of "Entertainment Tonight" says food is a universal love language no matter where or what you eat.
"I'm married to a woman from the Twin Cities. So, I always try to love her with food because that is the thing. Every year we go to the State Fair to eat," Frazier said.
There are fast food traditions for the day of love, too. White Castle is offering a "Valentine's Day Dinner" for the 32nd year.
"We hear a lot of stories about the first dates, marriage proposals we've seen," White Castle district supervisor Lisa Reyes said.
Decorations are up and the reservations are almost full for Tuesday's dinners at 12 metro area White Castle locations. Dinner features hostess seating and table side service. You can order off the regular menu or get "The Love Cube."
"We have eight cheeseburgers here and two sides. It comes with two drinks including our Sprite Love Potion. We have three different desserts on a stick," White Castle district supervisor Tim Clennon said.
Our own Frank Vascellaro and Amelia Santaniello had a long-time tradition involving another quick service restaurant.
"Since we had three kids close in age that were all basketball players, every February we're going to gym and gyms. It turns out on Valentine's Day we were always at a gym, and we had to find somewhere to eat," Vascellaro said.
The solution: Jimmy John's.
"Sometimes we would eat inside of Jimmy John's but more often than not we were actually eating the sandwich in the car. It was very romantic," Santaniello said.
"Playing lovely musical songs for her, but I would always tell Amelia you can order anything you want," Vascellaro said. "Even double meat."
"Very generous," Santaniello said.
