I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).

Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
asparagus.

I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
What would you consider a romantic meal?

In article .com>,
"Marge" > wrote:

> I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
> several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).
>
> Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
> asparagus.
>
> I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
> What would you consider a romantic meal?
>

Roast Cornish game hen. :-d

And one can also eat asparagus spears "creatively"......
--
K.

Sprout the MungBean to reply

"I don't like to commit myself about heaven and hell‹you
see, I have friends in both places." --Mark Twain

"Marge" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
> several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).
>
> Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
> asparagus.
>
> I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
> What would you consider a romantic meal?


This of course comes up every year about this time.
The concept of a romantic dinner is NOT based upon your culinary expertise
but the amount of time you can spend with your SO and the overall
atmosphere.

Here is the same answer from a few years ago.


The basic concept is to be able to spend time with the person at whom the
dinner is aimed and make them feel *special*. Now is not the time to show
off your (anyone's) culinary talents. Save that for a cooking contest.

So here goes.

First, pick a menu you can leave alone and not ruin and one that you can do
ahead of time.

Bruscetta
Caesar salad
Beef Wellington (or some other meat that can hold in the oven)
Garlic Roasted potatoes + any vegetable
Berries and sorbet
Coffee and more?

Second when the SO arrives have his/her favorite cocktail ready. Suggest
they take a shower and relax. Set out fresh towels and (your favorite)
cologne, you know the one that you think is sexy on them. Set out some
relaxing clothes for them to wear. Meet back in the living room - no TV
some soft music is OK but very very soft. Some little snacks (nuts or
munchies) are always nice to have around. and serve the bruscetta. Give
that part of the evening at least 1/2 hour to 1 hour. Chat, relax, have a
drink, get comfortable.

Third, move to the dinner table (pre set, candles, flowers, wine glasses and
an open bottle of wine) Dress and serve the salad. (pre prepared and
sitting in the fridge). Here you could also serve a hot or cold soup in
place of the salad. Then serve the main course (start the coffee - later).
which is holding in the oven (keep the dinner plates in the oven too). Keep
the dinner portions light you don't want to feel stuffed

Fourth, offer the dessert - waiting till later is just fine -

Fifth - Move back to the living room - If you have a tray set out coffee,
cups, and your favorite liquor that you put into coffee (amaretto, kahlua)
or some Sherry or Port. Later you may want to have some apple slices and
cheese.

Sixth - Well that's up to the two of you - Personally I think the berries
and sorbet are best AFTER................ ;-)

Enjoy,

Dimitri

the best ingredient for a wonderful Valentine's Day Dinner is love.
that's the one ingredient that will supercede all the others.

Marge wrote:
> I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
> several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).
>
> Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
> asparagus.
>
> I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
> What would you consider a romantic meal?

Broiled lobster tails brushed with butter & garlic
Parsley'd new potatoes
Steamed brussels sprouts (they are not evil)
Nice crisp white wine

Candles on the table. Fire in the fireplace (if you have one). No
television. Talk to each other.

Jill

Marge wrote:

> I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
> several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).
>
> Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
> asparagus.
>
> I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
> What would you consider a romantic meal?

Just about anything.... candlelit and naked.

:-)

I personally go for fingerfood, the logic being that 1) my wife usually
gets bored while I spend a couple of hours cooking, 2) you don't want
to get stuffed with heavy food and moan in food comma for a serenade 3)
it encourages drinking, which is not romantic by itself but sounds like
a good idea right now


- Investing a little bit of money in some sort of caviar tasting and a
nice bottle of chilled vodka can be fun. I would personally skip the
black caviars and go for the cheaper and still very intersting red
(salmon). Serve it on mini blins or some of the thick scandinavian
breads. I love Belvedere but any vodka over $15/bottle does the job
(IMHO). Caviar by itself is not going to make much of a dinner of
course so you need more finger foods.

- There is an easy recipie for salmon crepes somewhere. Essentially,
make crepes, let them cool. Mix cream cheese with horseradish paste (to
taste) and spread on the crepes, layer thinly cut smoked salmon on top
of the cheese. Roll tightly (roll with foil - it helps) and leave in
the fridge for 4-5 hours. Before serving cut the roll into cilinders
and turn on the flat side. Quite nice and goes well with vodka

- I also like to marinate scallops in wassabi and soy sauce and then
briefly grill. Goes
well with vodka

- Devilled eggs go great with vodka

- Pretty much any mayo based filling (make your own - it's fun) stuffed
in rolls of french ham goes well

- Russian ethnic stores sell seljodka (canned fish) which is a Russian
classic for vodka appetizer and for a good reason - use lemon juice
generously, taste before you arange them on a serving plate - these
things can be super salty.

In retrospect, what I wrote sounds more like a meeting of the General
Secretariat of the Communist Party than a romantic evening but I guess
if one of you (the leaner better looking one) wears something skimpy it
can go quite fine.

"Fifo" > wrote in
oups.com:

> I personally go for fingerfood,

Spread on various body part's of your partner and gently nibbled off,
this is quite tasty (Fingers, ear lobes, whatever...). Failing that or if
you're alone it's great on thin stick pretzels.

@@@@@ Now You're Cooking! Export Format

aka Kathy's Chocolate Pate

none

1 cup unsalted butter 250 ml
1/4 cup granulated sugar 50 ml
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp. brandy 30 ml
2 tsp. vanilla 10 ml
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate 250 g melted; and cooled
1 cup whipping cream 250 ml

In mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in
egg yolks, rum and vanilla. Blend in chocolate.

Whip cream lightly and stir into chocolate mixture. Turn into 3-cup (750
ml) mould or small pots. Chill until firm, at least 8 hours. (If you make
it the night before you can eat it for lunch and still have enough time
to
make another batch
for dessert).

Makes about 8 servings.

(actually it makes about two servings - if you have the right people).

Use a light flexible metal mould or small pots or crocks. The recipe cam
be
doubled for a large mould (or two small ones).

From Kathy

Tried this and it is good...with congac.


** Exported from Now You're Cooking! v5.66 **



--
No Bread Crumbs were hurt in the making of this Meal.
Type 2 Diabetic 1AC 5.6mmol or 101mg/dl

Marge wrote:

> I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
> several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).
>
> Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
> asparagus.
>
> I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
> What would you consider a romantic meal?

Fondue is fun, and you can have champagne with it. Here's a meal I posted
about a month ago which would probably fit the bill, too:

--------BEGIN QUOTE--------------
Boiled Rock Shrimp (which taste like little lobsters, and which came from
Trader Joe's) with a dip of melted cream cheese, hot sauce, Worcestershire
sauce, lemon juice, and a Creole spice mix, served with freshly-made French
bread from my local supermarket. (Dip the shrimp, eat with the bread, dip
the bread, put the shrimp on the bread, make little sandwiches and dip
them; my girlfriend and I fed morsels to each other...just a whole lot of
fun playing with the food!)

Tossed salad with butter lettuce, spinach, sliced red onion, orange
sections, and fresh buttered croutons (made from half of the French bread),
with a honey-pepper vinaigrette

Chicken-and-Pepperoni Gumbo with Rice (I thought the pepperoni was an
interesting twist on the more usual andouille sausage. Since pepperoni is a
bit harder than andouille, it was also a bit more substantial in the gumbo.)

Chocolate-Cherry Bread Pudding Soufflé with Apricot-Amaretto Cream Sauce
(I recently posted the recipe for Bread Pudding Soufflé with Whiskey Sauce;
this was only a slight variation, substituting a mixture of apricot brandy
and amaretto for the whiskey, substituting the chocolate-cherry bread for
the "normal" bread, and adding a few chunks of chocolate and a couple
teaspoons of Dutch-processed cocoa to the custard.)

With everything but dessert, we had iced tea with lemon syrup. With dessert,
I had milk; my girlfriend had a White Russian.
----------END QUOTE--------------

You might want to change that a little for Valentine's Day: Serve a small
cup of the gumbo as an appetizer, don't put the onions in the salad, and put
the shrimp concoction in a fondue pan or chafing dish, having it as the main
course. Instead of Bread Pudding Soufflé, just make bread pudding. (You
DON'T want to dash off in the middle of the fondue to take a soufflé out of
the oven!)

This year, I expect to eat sushi on Valentine's Day.

Bob

"Bob" > wrote in message
...
> Marge wrote:
>
>> I know it's traditional to go out to eat for V-day, but we've spent
>> several years cooking up a nice meal (we both like to cook).
>>
>> Last year I made beef medallions in a cranberry port sauce and
>> asparagus.
>>
>> I'm trying to come up with ideas for this year.
>> What would you consider a romantic meal?
>
> Fondue is fun, and you can have champagne with it.

Fondue does sound good, for at least one reason... I once was marketing
"romantic" meals cooked by your private chef, through a lingerie shop, and
the first thing the owner suggested was... "something the lovebirds can feed
each other". I hadn't thought of that angle, but it made sense to me.

wow, great suggestions. I think this is going to be a tough decision!
I know it's not all about the food, but after all, you know, the way to
a man's heart...
;-)

> "Marge" writes:
>
>wow, great suggestions. I think this is going to be a tough decision!
>I know it's not all about the food, but after all, you know, the way to a
man's heart...

In the short term it sure ain't through his stomach... actually it's through
*your* stomach. hehe


---= BOYCOTT FRANCE (belgium) GERMANY--SPAIN =---
---= Move UNITED NATIONS To Paris =---
*********
"Life would be devoid of all meaning were it without tribulation."
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