Embrace L’Amore

Julie Jurden

Anyone can make a reservation at a restaurant. It’s convenient. A dinner date at a restaurant requires minimal planning and not much effort. Finding parking might be the biggest challenge you’ll face all night.

And while we are all for convenience, isn’t there something much more romantic about making an effort?

Why You Don’t Need a Reservation This Valentine’s Day

 

Isn’t it the telltale sign of a true romantic to plan the details of a meal, to select a recipe and think about the way it looks and smells, to consider the preferences of your dinner date? It takes a very dedicated romantic to make a shopping list, to visit a market to select meat, herbs,vegetables and wine. In my opinion, it is proof of very extraordinary love and dedication to another person to come home from a long day at work and to ignore the lure of the TV, to put down the phone and to turn on some music and cook them a meal.

As Valentine’s Day approaches, we think you should skip the dinner reservation and make the most of your dinnertime together at home.

Top Tips For an Ultra-Romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner at Home

  • It’s about much more than taste. Some of the best tasting dishes in the world (hello, chili) simply don’t look great on the plate. To take your Valentine’s Day dinner to the next level, you should consider the visual presentation. For more ideas for creating dishes that look and taste enchanting, check out our blog on cooking with edible flowers.

  • Invoke your culinary muse. Mine is Nigella Lawson. She cooks classical Italian cuisine with a twist. She takes her time. She knows what she likes and gets a lot of pleasure out of her time in the kitchen. Choose a TV or cookbook chef you really connect with. If you run into trouble, ask yourself, “What would Nigella do?”

  • Don’t stress. Nothing can ruin the enchantment you’re trying to create in your kitchen faster than being  cranky, stressed out or frazzled. If you don’t have time to try a dry run of your recipe beforehand, read your recipe several times so you have a clear road map in your head. And if something goes wrong, laugh it off! A sense of humor is an attractive attribute in both a cook and a date.

  • Do as much as you can ahead of time. There is nothing wrong with chopping your onion a few hours before you cook. In fact, doing so might save your mascara if you have a particularly pungent onion. The more you can get accomplished before you start cooking, the easier a time you’ll have of it.

  • Try this recipe for roasted beet risotto. It is gorgeous, unexpected and almost heart-stoppingly romantic (that pink!). And you can roast the beets and chop the onion ahead of time, so there’s almost nothing left for you to do except to stir your risotto and look like a rock star in the kitchen.

Savor the Flavor of a Romantic Dinner With the One You Love

Final tip? Enjoy your culinary creation. There is nothing more delightful than being with someone who really luxuriates in the small pleasures of life. Join Modigliani this Valentine’s Day by sharing a home cooked meal with someone special. We would also love for you to share the delicious details and photos with us on Facebook and Twitter. Or take a moment to have a look at our daring and delightful la Forma del Sogno-Rosso collection (perfect for Valentine’s Day dining and gift-giving). Let’s embrace the romance of la grande vita together.