Romantic Dinner 101: Valentine's Day

1. Location, location, location! Anyone can make a reservation at the local French restaurant, but we are going to help you create the perfect ambiance in your own home. Find a non-traditional and unexpected spot to enjoy dinner within your house or apartment.  If you are lucky enough to live in a warm climate, utilize your outdoor space as well. For example, the formal dining room, an intimate nook in the bedroom, the garden, etc.
2. Use your nicest dishes, flatware, and glassware.  This helps set the "special" feeling of the evening!
3. Mood music is key.  Put on a classic artist such as Eric Clapton or Sinatra.  Play a record for a special feeling.
4. Avoid scented candles around your dining area.  Stick with unscented, white candles for a classic look. Make sure however the house does smell pleasant and the temperature is comfortable.  Take out the trash, change the litter box, etc.
5. For romantic lighting, cluster your pillar candles for the perfect glow. Be sure they are no higher than 12 inches tall.  Scatter votive candles around the room to add ambiance and mood.
6. Keep your menu fairly simple and prepare as much in advance to save your attention for your special guest.  This also keeps the kitchen relatively neat.  No one wants to spend the evening stuck doing dishes or looking at the mountains of dishes made from the meal.
7. Make the meal three courses: appetizer, entree and dessert. This makes it feel more special than just a snack.
8. Make sure you have a pitcher or glasses of ice water flavored with citrus fruits, cucumber, or even basil/mint in addition to wine or cocktails.
9. Avoid messy and overly rich foods for the meal.  No one feels sexy when they are bloated or if they have greasy fingers from tacos.
10.  Make sure your timing on the food is just right so everything is served at the correct temperature and time.  Be ready when your guest arrives.
11. Before your guest arrives, go and dress up in a special outfit.  A nice dress or shirt and tie.  Remember this is a special evening, no PJs or baseball caps.
12. Make sure to eliminate all distractions including technology, phones, pets, etc.  Send your cats or dogs for an overnight at the kennel or grandma's house.
13. After your dinner is finished, dance together, watch a romantic movie, or maybe hand dip strawberries together.
14. Our last tip, our favorite way to start and end a romantic, Valentine's dinner: Chocolate.

• Chocolate Martini: Take a martini glass and drizzle hard shell ice cream coating on the inside of the glass.  Use both milk and white chocolate varieties to create a pattern. Next, in a shaker combine 3/4 cup half and half or light cream, 1 cup dark chocolate liquor, 1/4 cup vodka, with ice.  Shake to combine.  Strain into prepared glass.  Garnish with a conversation heart.
• Flourless Fudge Cookies (Courtesy of King Arthur Flour): 
• 2 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp espresso powder (optional but divine)
• 1 cup dutch process (preferred) cocoa powder
• 3 large egg whites
• 2 tsp gluten free vanilla extra (most pure vanilla extracts should be gluten free)
• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease two cookie sheet, or line them with greased parchment paper. Stir together all ingredients until smooth.  Scrap the sides and bottom of the bowl and stir again until smooth.  Drop the soft, batter like dough onto the prepared baking sheets in 1 1/2 inch circles.  Bake the the cookies for 8 minutes.  They should spread, become slightly shiny, and develop faintly crackly tops.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheets.  The result is an ultra chewy, rich chocolate cookie with no additional fat or gluten!

Unconventional Wine Racks

Before you start this project, take a look around your home and decide what style of wine rack will accent your decor the best!  Often the first idea many of us think about when considering building an unconventional wine rack is to somehow gather a bunch of PVC piping together in some fashion using glue or screws.  This idea is wonderful but instead of just joining four tubes together in a square shape, give stab at something more artistic!  See the picture below!  The following ideas we have assembled take a more unexpected course!

1) If you would like to go for the PVC pipe look but want to try other materials, give these a try: black sub-pump lining, shiny aluminum duct, or coffee can with both ends removed.  You can gather these tubes together using airplane cable, large belt, rope, etc.

2) You could create a more organic wine holder by assembling terracotta chimney liners, bricks, or cinder blocks into a unique order!

3) Create a sling or hammock!  Use fabric such as canvas or duck cloth to create pockets in which bottles can be nestled.  You could also do this with belts!

4) Use wood! Find the space you would like to hang a wine rack in and determine whether you will need a 8-12 inch width board (the length of the board will be determined by your space).  Next, purchase several large hose clamps and gather several large coffee cans or soup cans (with both ends removed).  Draw parallel lines in several places along the length of board (approximately 6-8 inches apart). Screw the hose clamps (two at a time) to the board at each end of the parallel lines.  Secure the clamps around the cans and voila!  A vertical wine holder!   You can also drill smaller holes into a plank and stick the necks of the bottles in these smaller holes.

5) Try Tinker Toys or Legos for a fun, whimsical look!

6) A leather or canvas firewood carrier hung from the ceiling with chain or a sturdy pipe or rod could be slid through the handles.

7 ) A sturdy, in and out style mailbox/paper organizer.  Be sure the one you select can bear the weight of several wine bottles.  Check junk stores or antique shops for sturdy metal or wood ones.

8) A spare drawer will work!  Have an extra drawer in your kitchen or buffet (or ANYWHERE)?  Line it with foam and slip some wine bottles in it.

9) A wooden crate, antique or from the local craft store!  Paint, decorate, and divide!

10) Try an antique metal pail! Stencil, design, and voila!

Check out some pictures  of other great ideas below!

Meal Of The Month: Turkey Left Over Ideas from Funky to Fancy

FUNKY: Turkey Spring Rolls

(Thank You Ree Drummond from the Food Network for the recipe)

Ingredients:
2 cups shredded leftover Thanksgiving turkey
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon hot chile oil
1 package cellophane noodles
Eight 8 1/2-inch rice paper wrappers
3 leaves green-leaf lettuce, torn into pieces
1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
1 carrot, cut into julienne
1 cucumber, cut into julienne
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

Dipping Sauce:
1 cup leftover cranberry sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Hot chile oil

Directions
Place the turkey in a bowl and drizzle in the soy sauce, sesame oil, rice vinegar and the hot chili oil. Stir to combine and give it a taste. If you'd like a stronger flavor, add a little more of any of the ingredients.

Next, place the cellophane noodles in a large bowl. Cover them with boiling water and let them sit according to the package directions.

When they are tender but still have a nice bite, drain and set the noodles aside.

Soften the rice paper wrappers by placing them one by one into a bowl of warm water and taking them out when they're soft but still hold together.

To assemble each spring roll, lay a wrapper on a plate. Lay a small line of noodles in the center. Add a small amount of lettuce, turkey, alfalfa sprouts, a few carrot and cucumber strips, and top with a sprinkling of cilantro.

Fold in the sides of the wrappers and roll it into a tight roll. Repeat to make the rest of the rolls.

For the dipping sauce: Combine the cranberry sauce, soy sauce and a few dashed chile oil.

Dip the rolls into the sauce and dig in! Best if eaten within 1 hour of preparing.

Food Network

Ree Drummond

FANCY: Leftover Turkey Pate

Ingredients:

• 14oz cold cooked turkey
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3oz butter
• 4 tablespoons single cream (or light cream)
• 2 tablespoons dry sherry
• chopped parsley
• salt and black pepper
• lemon (as a garnish)

• Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the onion and fry until transparent.
  2. Remove pan from the heat and add the turkey meat.
  3. Place the mixture in a food processor and finely chop.
  4. Add the cream and sherry and beat until it is a smooth consistency.
  5. Place the mixture into a serving dish or individual ramekins and chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours.
  6. To serve, sprinkle with chopped parsley and place a lemon slice twist on top.
  UK/Ireland All Recipes
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• Celebrate Food Tip:
• For this recipe, you can place some of your leftover, cooked turkey in the freezer to have on hand in case you have unexpected holiday company or if you have to bring something to a soiree!
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Unconventional Cornucopia Corner

Our office challenge this week was to create a cornucopia out of unconventional materials.  Everyone took a stab at it!  Timothy attempted to construct his cornucopia out of cooked and braided spaghetti.  He failed.  Connie tried create a festive paste from glitter and craft glue.  She failed.  Wendell gave Lincoln Logs a try.  He failed.  Michael, who always answers "paper" when asked "paper or plastic?" destroyed several brown paper bags in his attempts.  While he came the closest of all the staff, he failed.  Finally Kathleen while pondering all the previous failures had a light bulb (compact florescent not incandescent of course, we're green) moment and drew a boxer cutter from her boot and cut the screen from the office outside door.  She then rolled it into a cone shape.  She secured the seams with staples (be careful).  Next, she trimmed the opening to make it even.  Kathleen then rolled the opening of the cornucopia to create a "cuff" to hide the rough ends and add structure to the opening.  Finally, she twisted the the narrow end into iconic upward horn shape of a cornucopia.   To help distract form any seams or overlap, she used striped jute strapping to create a rustic ribbon effect.  She finished her creation by rummaging through the office "Fall" Files for all sorts of appropriate fillings and fauna.  Needless to say the rest of the office staff was green with envy over Kathleen's creation and decided that it should be featured on the blog this week!  Below see pictures of her creation!