Originally we made a booking to eat out at our favourite Italian restaurant. But it turns out they had a set menu for valentines day (that was a little on the expensive side), and as we are saving for our impending road trip across Australia, we decided to pack a picnic and have dinner by the lake instead.

So. Cheap and tasty was the brief.
I decided to make some wraps. Peanut satay tofu with kale salad, sprouts, hummus, and homegrown tomatoes.

And for something sweet. Nutella, banana and blueberries sprinkled with a hint of cinnemon.

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This was all packed into the Esky with some wine, a beer for me, a selection of dips and chips, a themos of coffee…and a couple of treats for Juno.
The whole thing cost just over $20.00.

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We decided to set up camp in the Peace Park down by Lake Burly Griffin. It was a beautiful evening and there were plenty of other people who had a similar idea.

Couples dotted the park, each enjoying their own picnic spread. What I did find interesting was watching the number of young couples who had spent a particular effort in curating their valentines experiences.

Boho sets atop large rugs festooned with cushions and accented by wee battery powered fairy lights. Cheeses, wines, and other delicacies displayed on small wooden tables (with tablecloths) or suchlike. Some of them looked really cool.

Before actually settling into enjoying their creations, (and when the light was just right), there was a flurry of photos, and selfies (couple-ies), and Instagram uploads and Facebook updates. And when the moment had been perfectly captured…. everyone could finally settle in to relax, ingest and snuggle into the romance of the evening.

Kelly and I had only our old picnic rug a couple of camp chairs and my Esky full of wraps. But we improvised. The tofu wraps tasted great, the Nutella wraps went down a treat.
We read, we talked about our impending trip, and then we eventually just gazed out over the lake. And the cool, quiet evening left a crowded expensive restaurant far, far, behind.