The ‘Art’ of Kissing Blog
Posted on September 21, 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, sex 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: “Is not a kiss the very autograph of love?” ~ Henry Finck
Le Menu – The Autograph of Love.
“Sweeten the pot” with this absolutely adorable, kissable, sweet menu for your man, he’s sure to ‘eat it right up’ and give you some sugar…all things sweet for your sweetheart!
Love Dateline: The Kiss – A Sign of Love, Reverence, Greeting or…Perhaps Sexual Desire
Where: Anywhere, anytime!
When: Ongoing throughout life…one hopes!
Mood: Vulnerable and open to love
Emotion: Joy
It All Starts With a Kiss.
Women love to dine on a steady diet of love and romance! I don’t know about you, but I certainly do, in fact I sometimes crave it! And as we all know, romance all starts with the first kiss! The BEST kisses ever are always a surprise! You just never know when they will happen and who might deliver them smack, dab on your unsuspecting lips! Who doesn’t want the great, romantic ‘French Kiss’ by Robert Doisneau? I know I do! Remember his amazing photograph Le baiser de l’hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Town Hall), a photograph of a couple kissing in the busy streets of Paris. Here’s a great quote from him that says it all: “The marvels of daily life are so exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street.” He definitely captured the moment, Ze French Kiss, the symbol of young love in Paris (although the photo was posed…ze French kiss was real, c’est vrai)! Check out the photograph and the story. It’s no wonder I moved to Paris for my first job outside of the country!
Why the Kiss?
When passion takes hold, stand back…actually what am I saying, move forward! A kiss can connect two people together in an exchange of all sorts of things – scents, tastes, and emotions – an emotional sensory overload if you will! Depending on the man and the situation (of course), one might kiss gingerly, timidly or passionately – skies the limit with kisses. Of course in every situation everyone has their own unique style – from affectionate kisses to air kisses to kisses of death (I hope that never happens to you nor me) and even fairy tale kisses that can revive real life princesses (I want that to be me and my prince charming). Kissing satisfies different kinds of hungers, one little tiny kiss can release a tsunami of chemicals that cause a domino affect of excitement, feelings of closeness and even euphoria (if it’s a really, really…did I say really, good kiss). Everyone loves the thought of the first ‘sign’ of love, the first kiss.
Air Kisses
Speaking of air kisses (which I find somewhat irritating), I’ll tell a short story about an air kiss at a friend’s wedding (and why air kisses can be dangerous). Having played match-maker for my friend and her soon-to-be husband, I took great pride in being a guest at their wedding (not maid of honour, oh well next time). I LOVE happy romantic endings. I beamed as my boyfriend and I stood outside of the church waiting to congratulate the happy couple after their exchange of vows (always a happy blessed occasion). I also started to dream about our wedding (of course I did, who doesn’t do that at weddings)! She arrived by my side, beaming, glowing and thanking me. As I went to air kiss her cheek (because she wasn’t close enough for a real kiss), she moved slightly and I ended up kissing her shoulder and her white dress. OMG, I felt absolutely horrible – I was wearing a bright coral shade of lipstick (yep, it was in vogue back then) – and now so was her beautiful white dress. I couldn’t believe it as my face turned the coral shade of her lipstick-stained dress. I hastily tried to rub it off – no way – ever try to remove lipstick from your collar (sounds like another storyline) – it’s virtually impossible. I felt like I was in a commercial for a ‘Tide To Go’ stick, but unfortunately it hadn’t been invented yet. For the duration of the wedding all I could see was my lipstick stain every-time I looked her direction (I truly felt awful). You would have probably have felt like crawling under a rock or a table as well. She of course forgave me – you always forgive your matchmaker – and for me a valuable lesson ensued, never air kiss again! And always carry a Tide To Go stick in your purse!
The Art
Here’s a short checklist from the experts to create your work of art!
- Create a connection with innuendo-laced conversation.
- Make your lips kissable with a light (non-sticky) lip-gloss (try to avoid coral).
- Be spontaneous, a perfect kiss just can’t be planned!
- Keep your eyes wide shut (ahhh the romance).
- An open-mouthed French kiss is ‘the’ most sensual (as we all know oh la la).
- Kiss with your hands, I’ll leave that to you to work that one out (this is PG-13)!
You Must Remember This, A Kiss Is Just A Kiss
I confess I LOVE this song (As Time Goes By), it’s from the most romantic movie of all times – Casablanca. Yes, I’m a hopeless romantic, there, I feel better now sharing that with you! While I’m at it, one more confession, the first kiss is ‘key’ for me when it comes to romance! It paints the picture and can make or break the relationship. Here’s my short story of THE best, most memorable kisses that I’ve ever encountered! It’s a toss up between three romantic interludes, yes three (how lucky am I). I’ll call this trio the Kings of Kissing, the Sultans of Swing! Nah, I’ll stay with Kings of Kissing. Want to meet them? Don’t be jealous, I know that I’ve been fortunate to have been with three great kissers from the history books (on different occasions of course, I’m not like that). OK, introductions, ready? The first, I’ll call him Humphry Bogart (Casablanca fame), was an incredible kisser, he was a natural (especially on a Moroccan sheep skin rug). I won’t go into detail, you just might need a cold shower. Our kisses lasted for what seemed like hours…who needed food and oxygen? He was a great teacher and probably ‘the’ best kisser of all time! Thank you Humphry Bogart! The next, Casa Nova, was also a very good kisser (with a name like that he should be)! In particular when a long hot steamy kiss involved chocolate…any kiss that involves chocolate works for me! I won’t forget that moment in time, its etched into my mind (yes, I do love chocolate that much, maybe more than that kiss)! The final act, the final kiss was with Don Juan…how can one go wrong with a man by that name? Oh la la, it was hot and steamy – the kiss I mean – shame he wasn’t entirely hot ‘n steamy himself! Does being English have anything to do with that I wonder? I can say that because I was born in England, but I sincerely do wonder whether men from that country know the definition of passion? What ever happened to good ole fashioned passion I ask? That was the end of my relationship with Don Juan! I still love you though as a friend, have it in you to be a sweet, kind and thoughtful Don Juan.
The romance stops here for me though…sorry to burst your romantic bubble…I dream of REAL MEN!
Dear Kings of Kissing: Thank you men for being great kissers, but you’re not always great REAL MEN. Your words don’t always match your actions and you don’t quite always know how keep your word. Here’s something I do my best to live by and you may want to…food for thought for future reference: “Veritas vos liberabit. The truth shall make you free!” So…for now you can keep your kisses, your half-truths and X’s and O’s.
Listen to this song, Ex’s & Oh’s, Elle King has it all figured out, I LOVE her light-hearted look at relationships!
The kiss was just a kiss after all, I guess you can’t have it all can you. I much rather prefer REAL men anyway, the rare breed that speak the truth no matter what! Sayonara ex-kissers (don’t know what this means…Google it)! What the world really needs are more REAL MEN and love sweet love (sounds like a song)! As we all know REAL MEN are becoming as extinct as the monarch butterfly sadly. As I’m doing ladies, keep looking and cooking until you find love, they’re out there somewhere…just not in England! Find love and be love, it all starts with a kiss…
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!:
Yes, run away from these kissing frauds as fast as you feet will carry you and seek help immediately.
Check out the complete “The Art of Kissing” menu!
Foodie Dateline: Ice Storm Cooking Class
Where: Mount Pleasant (yes, it does exist)
When: Spring 2013
Mood: Chilly and adventurous
Emotion: Joy in our resiliance
Newsflash Thursday April 11, 2013
“Thousands of customers in Peterborough and the surrounding area were without power as wind and freezing rain toppled trees and snapped branches, downing power lines. The storm began Thursday. Problems persisted throughout the day as temperatures hovered around the freezing mark, causing ice to remain on branches that continued to snap and cause power outages.”
And so the story began…
Dark
The Mount Pleasant Farmhouse Culinary Studio was ‘dark’ (just like theatres in the heat of the summer). No light, no heat, no water, no show, no action. In vain I tried to contact the men booked to come to tonight’s class, no luck, not a single call answered. Dilemma…hmmm. I had already purchased all of the ingredients for tonight’s class – yes for this very ‘The Art of Kissing’ Menu although known as tonight as the ‘Maple Syrup Fest’ Menu for men. I couldn’t connect with my guys, what now? I also had a gallon of pure maple syrup that was freshly delivered yesterday, just waiting to be loved! What to do, what to do? Oh well, I could always just sit back and drink the stuff…it’s that good. I pondered in the deepfreeze of the kitchen for a while…brrr. I decided, what the heck, I’ll just set up for the class and see what happens! I spent the day wrapped in lots of layers of sweaters – yes much like the Michelin Man – and got prepped as best I could. I made sure that the BBQ tank was full of propane, check! I lit candles everywhere, check! Waited for the class start time, check! Sure enough, one-by-one, they all rolled in. Do they not listen to the news I thought to myself, how can they not know that I don’t have power!?!?
The Show Must Go On!
So…the show must go on! I told them that I had cooked almost anything on the BBQ, so we could definitely make this class happen! They were ‘in’ and ready for a culinary adventure…me too! We prepped and cooked and drank wine by candlelight, it was a lot of fun and oh so romantic…yours truly and 6 guys in the dark! They were all ready for an adventure…no, not ‘that’ kind of adventure (shake your head). A food adventure! We used ‘manpower’ when power was needed for the recipe and every single dish turned out perfectly. We baked the brie, the chicken and the potatoes on the BBQ. The only dish that we couldn’t make, funnily enough, was the Frozen Maple-Mousse Pie (how ironic is that)? The evening was a trip, a cooking class in the dark. The food was even more deliciously amazing than usual, yes…even as we ate in the frigid dining room (of course, wine always). After our delicious evening, the next dilemma was the dishes…no water. No water, no worries, I stacked up all of the dishes and just put them out into the deep-freeze, the garage! I’d wash ‘em once we had power again! What’s amazing is that you can make things happen without phones, water, light, heat…fire and maple syrup, oh and wine are a wonderful resource to turn to, our evening turned into a sweet adventure! Thanks guys for your generosity of spirit, patience and kindness as we navigated through the darkness. You’re the best!
Wish you were here!
XO