(Click the photo for the recipe.)
Did you forget to book your reservation last February for this year? Valentine’s Day usually involves flowers, small tokens of affection, chocolates, cards and a special dinner.
Is it the service and ambiance of the restaurant that makes that meal so special? We all seem to eat out often enough. Why not whip up something at home? (Unless you can get your favorite restaurant to deliver….)
(Click the image for attribution)
A cheese fondue in front of a roaring fire, glasses filled, cushions on the floor, has a nice old world casual and intimate feeling to it. Of course you must kiss if one of you drops your bread into the pot.
(Click the photo for the recipe.)
Pan-seared lamb chops with mint salad? Sounds delicious and kissably fresh. Do as Mark Bittman does and pre-heat a cast iron skillet before popping the chops in the oven and you’ll cook the chops in 10 minutes flat. Just be sure to open a window and get out the fan.
Regardless of the menu, be sure to propose a toast over a flute of champagne. And if there was an evening to buy the real stuff, this is it.
Happy Valentine’s Day.
I make sure to never go out to a restaurant on VD — here in NYC they are packed with uncomfortable couples, the tables are packed together, the menu is overpriced, and the whole experience is a commercialized, overhyped let down. A thoughtfully planned and well-prepared dinner at home is always a better option in my view. Tonight started out with a couple martinis, followed by Dartagnan ham (delish), buttery acorn squash, steamed broccoli, and a tasty pinot noir, ending with a handful of Hershey kisses, courtesy of a bowl of them in our apartment building’s lobby. Perfection! Reggie
Reggie, we ordered out. I should have cooked. Alas a headcold has laid me low. Chicken soup I think.