YES, love is in the air, as the atmosphere shifts from festive Oriental vibes to heartwarming romance. Only a few days to go before Valentine’s Day, and the romantic fever is fast catching on. So better get yourself ready to be swept away by love, which takes on different forms, shapes and sizes this Valentine’s Day 2025.

ICE CREAM!

Every year, Sebastian’s Ice Cream has a Valentine Ice Cream Collection and its four members remain constant: Matinong Boyfriend, Matinong Girlfriend, Closure and Unresolved Issues 2025.

The flavors they represent change per year. Only Unresolved Issues is always the same. The flavor that will never die is an Ampalaya Sorbet made with fresh bitter melon and garnished with candied ampalaya. “It is forever unchanging, never progressing, never moving forward, much like someone unwilling to deal with his unresolved issues,” says Ian Carandang, the genius behind Sebastian’s.

As for Closure, 2025 version, it is a smooth, chunkless tea-based ice cream that symbolizes wellness. Using black tea leaves, it is infused with fresh ginger and lemon, and sweetened with honey.

This year’s Matinong Boyfriend is a white wine ice cream swirled with Strawberry Sorbet made from fresh strawberries from Benguet, and Matinong Girlfriend is all about bananas. It is banana ice cream made from fresh lakatan and is loaded with crispy banana chips, fresh banana slices and a banana jam ripple.

Sebastian’s has also introduced a limited-edition ice cream cake, the classic Cookies n’ Creme Ice Cream Cake, which consists of layers of black cocoa cake, Oreo milk crumb and Cookies n Creme ice cream, topped with crushed Oreo cookies.

All these interesting ice-cold treats are available in scoops and pints or, for the ice cream cake, in slices and whole cakes at Sebastian’s flagship store at The Podium and via online ordering at sebastiansicecream.com.

PASTRIES!

Over at Bakers Champ in San Fernando, Pampanga, Chef Wolen Juan Superal is ready with his Valentine’s collection. It consists of three items — Berry Love Croissant, Triple Chocolate Walnut Brownie Croissant and Pain au Koko Krunch.

Berry Love Croissant is a heart-shaped croissant filled with raspberry gel and custard.

Triple Chocolate Walnut Brownie Croissant is a chocolate flavored croissant with a fudgy walnut brownie inside, coated with dark chocolate and topped with roasted walnuts.

Pain au Koko Krunch is classic pain au chocolat, but Chef Wolen’s take has chocolate cream filling and a dark chocolate Koko Krunch coating.

All three Valentine’s variants are priced at P170 each and are available until March 15 at Bakers Champ’s main store at S8 Mall, Del Pilar, San Fernando, Pampanga (0993-3049901) and its newly opened branch at SM City Pampanga.