no one you should go to a restaurant for dinner on Valentine’s Day this year, but that doesn’t mean you have to resign yourself to eating with polystyrene takeaway shells or greasy pizza boxes. (Eating pizza straight from the box is a trick, it’s just not a romantic trick.) Whether you’re cooking your food or calling each other on the phone, treating the evening like a dinner for two will ensure a special, thoughtful tone. . .
Basically, if it’s a move that would mean dinner, you should do it for the dinner you serve on February 14th. Dinners are about impressing people with the maturity and consideration you have, which is an atmosphere that should extend to your Valentine’s Day, which is — more than likely — the person you’ve been almost constantly during. a full year. Attention to detail can be a loving language and can make a meal feel at home different, even if you have not left this house for more than 11 months.
Set the table
If you have “nice” dishes, use them. If you have children, banish them at night and don’t worry about them breaking the dishes (make them watch a movie or leave them in bed soon). However, do not use dishes that are so nice that they cannot be put in the dishwasher or dishes that are so nice that you are anxious to eat them. After all, it’s supposed to be fun.
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Once you’ve chosen your dishes, you can focus on the rest of the table. Place rugs, cloth napkins, and, yes, candles, which make the food feel more intentional and thoughtful. I also recommend place cards, even if there are only two places on the table. Write your Valentine’s name on a nice little card or, better yet, on a clementine (get the guy with leaves still attached if you can), place it in front of the chair, and look at the face that looks like it. lumina with the adorable edible detail.
Heat the dishes and cool the glasses
If you have trouble cooking a nice medium-rare steak or mixing a perfectly chilled and diluted martini, you can also take the extra step of serving them inside or in a container that doesn’t negatively affect their temperature in one way or another. Only for dishes that are marinated with hot food put them in the oven at low temperature (the lowest there will be) on a baking sheet for a couple of minutes just before serving. (This is also a good brunch: few things ruin a hot egg like a cold dish).
If you serve a salad, put the salad dishes in the fridge (for 20 minutes) freezer (if in a hurry) to help keep greens cold and clean. This may not be necessary, depending on the temperature you keep at home, but it is useful if the dishes are fresh and hot in the dishwasher.
If you’re serving cocktails, white wine or even Diet Coke, put some fancy glasses in the freezer while you prepare the food. This is a particularly nice move (some might say it’s “crucial”) if you drink martinis, which are at their best when they’re frozen.
Learn a few fantasy tricks
I didn’t expect the articulated liner to be one of the things I missed during this pandemic, but yes: I miss the white plates with their negative space and the carefully placed trims. People do eat first with your eyes and while sculpting mashed potatoes may seem silly at times, it feels thoughtful on the plate. If you don’t feel comfortable with that amount of bourgeois decay, at least finish the dish with a little lemon, a drizzle of good olive oil, or sprinkle with some fresh herbs and crunchy things,.
Don’t forget the butter (and good salt)
An ample supply of butter at room temperature is what separates my favorite bread restaurants from the rest. If a waiter brings me butter covered with some kind of flake salt, I’m one of them to spend the night and I’ll follow them to hell, or at least to the more expensive pages of the wine menu. It’s a powerful move, that’s what I’m saying, and you can harness its power by setting a good butter (which is different from everyday butter), good salt (Maldon or something similar) and a pepper mill full of whole peppercorns.
If your food or Valentine’s Day requires condiments, pickles, or gravy, be sure to set it all up before serving dinner so no one has to leave the table and clean bottles and lids of these condiments before exposing them. You can also transfer them to small bowls with nice serving spoons, but cleaning the hot sauce bottle would suffice.
Comment on the division of labor beforehand
If you’re presenting food as a “gift,” cleaning up the mess you make in the kitchen should be part of it. One of the best things about going out on Valentine’s Day is not having to clean anything, so don’t control any unexpected chores on your partner or spouse.
If the meal is a combined effort, distribute the labor before February 14th. Decide who prepares the main course, who prepares dessert and who is in charge of the drink program, the music of the mood and the cleaning ahead of time so you don’t just quarrel on an evening that’s supposed to be romantic. Do this even if you are getting takeaway food. Throwing the plastic container in the dishwasher after dinner isn’t as important as cleaning grease from a cast iron skillet, but it’s still a problem and you may want to order other activities after dinner.