- If you are making an elegant meal the keys to success are plan, plan and more planning. Nothing is more frustrating than cooking your meal and forgetting about some of the prep.
- If you are pairing up wine with each food course, take your time. Remember it’s a marathon not a sprint, and the last thing you will want to deal with is someone so intoxicated they can’t talk 🙂
- BE BOLD. Get out of your comfort level a little bit and try something new. Knowing how to cook one great dish is all well and good, but then you will be stuck in a rut feeding your significant other the same dish 6 times a year and there is NOTHING spontaneous or exciting about that so change it up!
- If you plan on going to a restaurant, make EARLY reservations. I can tell you first hand that the food quality and service go down as the night goes on. These folks that work in restaurants get beat down after non stop running around and there for the food quality and service suffer, so get in early.
- Try making a dish that was made for two people i.e. Chateaubriand or my braised rib poutine for two 🙂
- Treat your home like a restaurant. Play some music in the background, buy some white linens, decorate the table, have candles and if you have kids they can be your dishwashers 🙂
- Keep your meal intimate. Eating with friends and family is all well and good, but leave that to Friday nights. This is a chance to connect with your significant other over great conversation and even better food and wine.
- Keep dessert simple. Take an old classic and dress it up, but don’t forget to chose seasonally. For the non-traditionalist this means exotic melons and fresh berries are not in season, including chocolate covered strawberries. Stick to something savory (cinnamon in flavor), chocolate, carrot cake, I don’t care just don’t go crazy and don’t buy out of season berries. That’s all…
- There is a good chance you will have food leftover, so after an amazing meal/date wrap up the left over food so your significant other can remember that meal/date while eating their delicious leftovers the next day at work.
- I don’t know about you but two things I never get sick of hearing is “thank you” and “I love you,” so be sure to tell your significant other (who cooked) that you appreciate them and that you love them (If it’s a first or second date I would avoid the I love you statement until a more suitable moment :-)).
Don’t forget to catch up with me at facebook.com/chefbillyparisi and at twitter.com/chefbillyparisi.