Show your lover how much you care by sharing a romantic meal. Take special care preparing the setting. Break out the crystal, good china and silver to make eating together an event.
Pick a different place to eat. For dinner, spread a linen tablecloth on the rug in front of the fireplace. Serve breakfast in the formal dining room, or have a late-night snack on a tray in the tub.
Nothing's too good for your lover. So go all out with the ingredients. Spring for prime beef and order a standing rib roast from the specialty butcher. Or surprise your partner with berries and papaya flown in from Costa Rica. Detroit-based chef Kathleen Daelemans, formerly of the award-winning Cafe Kula at the Grand Wailea Resort in Maui, Hawaii, says, "Fresh tropical fruit in winter is mouth-watering, supersweet and satisfying."
Plan your menu around foods that stimulate the senses. Spicy ethnic foods may heat up more than your mouth. Or Johan's Guide to Aphrodisiacs suggests serving pine nuts in a rich soup or with garlic and mussels.
For dessert, chef Michel Naschon of New York's Heartbeat restaurant likes "fresh, sexy fruit such as mango halves." Whatever you serve, he recommends, "eat it with your hands, forget about forks and spoons."
Remember the eating scene in the 1963 movie "Tom Jones"? Consuming food was foreplay for Albert Finney and a luscious wench, who slurped and sucked and ripped the meat off bones before ripping off their clothes. Use your fingers to feed each other. You'll be sharing sustenance of the heart and soul, as well as the stomach.
