it’s valentines day, which means another celebration of our love by dining at … ben’s chili bowl.

nothing sounds more romantic than chili, mustard and onions, but it turns out that the first thing the lady sparkler and i ever did together (outside of work) was go to ben’s for a half smoke.

bridesmaid Mel was there too, and we went on (what we thought) was a random weekend back in February 2004. now, we actually weren’t dating them (that didn’t happen for another three months) and it was shear coincidence that we picked February 14th, but we’ve now it’s become a tradition …

we’ve made it to ben’s four out of the last six Valentine’s Days. only missing 2005 because we didn’t realize the significance, and 2007 because the lady sparkler was stuck in Saudi Arabia.

love blooms in the heart of D.C.