Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Dave, I hope you don't mind...it was fairly easy to search and find this post from TOBB. Let me tell you, it had all of us ladies melting...

"Almost six years ago I prepared a Valentine's day dinner for a special lady who appreciated having romantic dinners prepared for her. For most it would be going overboard, but basically every dish was shaped in a heart and, in some cases, red. And red wines, of course.

First, I baked two heart shaped loaves of ciabatta, to be served throughout the dinner. Then it started with a couple of her favorite antipastis - a mozzarella salad, cheese and tomatoes in heart shapes, and a roasted red pepper dish, with the pepper pieces as hearts. then the pasta course was a heart shaped ravioli, with a simple red sauce. The main dish was a veal ragout, with the meat and mushrooms in heart shapes, cooked and served in my LeCreuset heart casserole. A simple saute of zuchinni and onions in heart shapes accompanied this, followed by a salad, with as much cut in hearts as I could manage. Dessert was individual heart shaped strawberry tarts, with a heart shaped slice on top, for garinish. Later, some heart shaped hazelnut cookies with some coffee, in front of the fireplace, with a bunch of heart shaped wood chunks.

I have yet to find a lady worth putting this much effort into a dinner for...but I'm still looking.

Maybe this would be overkill for a dinner for most men...but maybe a couple of the dishes can give you some ideas. Good luck with your romantic dinners! "

Dave, after seven years, I still remember this post as one of the nicest descriptions of a meal anyone could make for another person.

Amy

love the dinner description.

Kathy, we are most likely going out on the saturday as it's my youngest b.d. that night. Should be interesting to see how all the romantic couples like us dining with them. He (turning 10) wants a steak dinner at the local steakhouse

I saw a dessert on Chef at Home this week that looked good for a dinner party as it could easily be made ahead and switched up. He scooped large balls of icecream onto a cookie sheet, froze them and then dipped the balls in melted chocolate then rolled in coconut and froze again. He served it in dessert glasses. While not fancy, it looked great and you could experiment with different icecream flavours, chocolate and toppings. I would use my stemless martini glasses to serve them.

I personally think you can't go wrong with french onion soup at a valentine's day meal. Especially with the cold weather!

Well, I will be dragging out the heart-shaped ramekins for pots de crème, but I haven't made any other decisions. Maybe for the little man in my life I'll cut his peanut butter sandwich with the heart-shaped cookie cutter.

http://www.amazon.com/HIC-Porcelain-24-Ounce-4-Inch-Coeur/dp/B0000CF4DH/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295807430&sr=8-1&rps=1

I need this. I am craving the version from Around My French Table again.

Becca,

We have that dish and realize that you need a much larger dish or possible two or three. It really makes for a nice presentation.

Tim

I have some heart shaped creme brulee ramekins. Maybe I'll make Joanne Chang's creme brulee (from Fine Cooking magazine a few years ago). Incredibly good. FC also had a great fudge recipe a few years ago. Would be fun to use heart shaped cookie cutters on fudge or fudgy brownies...Of course I'll have to taste test everything
Nancy

Where to I get this reputation?

Anyway, for me & Kris VD is always eggplant-tomato casserole. This is a tradition of the first meal I cooked for Kris on Feb 14, 1992. Side dishes/starters vary, as do desserts.

The week after VD we'll go to our favorite French restaurant, Chapeau!. However, Philippe's holiday menu is both too expensive and too limited for us to do the holiday itself.

Eggplant casserole:

Cuz you are a keyboard wielding samurai Buddhist; one misstep and snip--right back into the Mobius Continuum; in other words, if I cause you to get your blooms in a wad, I could be enjoying the challenges of making enough Amish Friendship starter to make The Blob (remember that jewel?) look like a nice horror movie monster.


Jes,
Wow, really big congratulations on the little guy!

Crystal -- Thanks!

Where to I get this reputation?

[quote="TheFuzzy"]I think this is by far the most tangental thread in the short history of this board.