First Hot Date Blog
Posted on August 5, 2015 by Jackie DeKnock No comments
GOURMET LOVE
“Spreading love, one recipe at a time!”
The back-story that inspired the menu that inspired the recipes! Foodie and Love stories combining love, romance, and adventure (remember this is all fiction my friends)! Let me take my paintbrush, paint the scene and the mood to take you there…
Inspired Quote to love by: “No one is you and that is your POWER!” ~ Dave Grohl
Love Dateline: Girl Meets Boy
Where: Anywhere
When: Anytime
Mood: Excitement, anticipation, vulnerability and courage
Emotion: Joy
Are You Mr Perfect?
Ask these ‘key’ first date questions (on the side) as you serve your fabulous dinner and you’ll get to know your special someone pronto. Are they indeed Mr Perfect or Mr Questionable? They’ll be so enthralled by your decadent food that they won’t even recognize your ‘Spanish Inquisition’! Not really a Spanish Inquisition, just wanting to get to know a love interest for who they are. Let’s change that to an excavational ‘dig’ of the soul, to look deep into their eyes into their soul. That’s the heart of the matter.
Here’s a list of some soul searching questions to serve up nice ‘n warm as you dine:
You do what for a living? Straight-forward enough, simple enough to ask.
How much do you make? You might want to rephrase this one and only ask when apropos of course. As we know though what’s most important is WHO he is, not WHAT he has.
Have you figured out your calling in life? Why not go for broke on this one, it’s key to know in life. What is his passion, are his values in alignment with yours?
What’s your favourite place in the entire world? Innocent enough to ask.
What’s in your fridge? This is a great question, especially if you find out that your date is a foodie with a fully stocked refrigerator, jack pot! This is also a telling sign about this person’s lifestyle – are they a planner or more spur-of-the-moment? And do they nourish their soul with food?
What should I know about you that I’d never think to ask about? This is a good question, they can dig deep and do a little self-reflection (make that a lot)! What do they want you to know? Are they the kind of good soul that you want to be with? Listen carefully, this will tell you a lot.
A few other bonus questions:
What is your relationship like with your mother? Your family? Always good to know – pay close attention to their relationship with their mother – it’s very telling.
Last but not least – how do you plan to create world peace? Get their take on the big world out there. We are all love, we heal this world one kindness at a time. Start tonight…
Good luck, I know he’ll enjoy your meal and hopefully your side dishes of questions. You never know, he could be Mr Perfect! Wouldn’t that be sweet?! Love is always the way.
FOODIE DATELINE: Lucky
Where: Mount Pleasant Farmhouse Culinary Studio
When: Valentines Day 2011
Mood: Love in the air
Emotion: Joy
Get Lucky Cooking Class
I initially created this menu and recipes for my Guy’s ‘Get Lucky’ Cooking Class a few years ago. I already knew that it was a hit, so I decided that it would be a perfect ‘First Date Menu’ to share with you. The guys loved the name of the class, in fact I think that many of them signed up for that reason alone…I digress. The guys made double portions all of the dishes in class – with constantly reminders from me to ‘cook from the heart’ – all of the dishes turned out perfectly (whew, that doesn’t always happen, especially with the guy’s classes…sorry, but that’s the truth)! Funnily enough, the only dish that wasn’t a hit was the oyster dish, some liked ‘em, some didn’t, go figure (try it out anyway, for its ‘effectiveness’ to get your love in the mood). Dinner was served, they couldn’t get enough, savoured every morsel and took portions home for Valentine’s Day in the hopes that they’d ‘get lucky’ (no, I didn’t ask for a full report and details, TMI, I didn’t need to know). What I do know is that this menu works and that your date will love it! Food is the way to the heart, it nourishes the soul. Bon appetit.
FOODIE DATELINE: Endorphins
Where: Les Deux Magots Cafe – Paris, France
When: Winter 1986
Mood: Homesick, vulnerable, all alone in the city of love (so I turned to chocolate)
Emotion: Sadness with swings to happiness (post-chocolate)
Chocolate Fixes Everything
You’ll end your dinner with this decadent Chocolate Torte dessert. The recipe was brought back with me from Paris, France after I lived there many moons ago! I first tasted a version of this delicious Chocolate Torte at the famous Les Deux Magot Café, as I sipped chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) in my loneliness. Chocolate had become my comfort food, it truly nourished my soul (I know what you’re thinking…not the healthiest of choices, but what my soul needed at the time). Les Deux Magots is a café that you should experience when you visit Paris. Sit outside and take in the café culture and the Parisian world passing by (you may have to invest in a more expensive cup of hot chocolate in order to sit outside, but you are so worth it). A true taste of Paris at its best – here’s a link to take you to Les Deux Magot cafe with me: http://www.lesdeuxmagots.fr/en/ambiances.php#/ambiances.php. My dessert version is as decadent as the one I tasted in Paris (just without the Eiffel Tower). You’ll want to spend lots of time over dessert, enjoying the torte and the coulis and finding out what else you should know about your date! Bonne chance, I hope that you have met your soul mate!! I hope that he takes you to Paris one day, the city of love. It’s an incredible city, I LOVE Paris and I know you both will too! Please give Paris a big hug from me, she needs it right now.
XO
PS Love your food, what comes from the heart touches the heart! Craving isn’t a ‘Bad Word,’ food IS sexy!
PSS I came up with this handy wallet-sized ‘Manly Ranking Scale’ – pull it out when you need it! It’s similar to the Richter Magnitude Scale that measures earthquakes (the idea came to me as I survived a major earthquake in Vegas years ago). I’ll grade each man of my life at the time of my Love Dateline story! Feel free to grade the man of your life, If he’s a +10 (and I hope he is), I’d say go for it!:
Go for broke and hope that he’s a ‘keeper’!
Jackie and morning show host Mike Melnik on 980 KRUZ in the morning talking Chocolate Torte
And if Mr. Perfect asks you about your love of wine during your first date (who doesn’t drink wine to loosen up)…tell him this:
Check out the complete “First Hot Date” menu