Preparing For A Romantic Evening Does Not Mean You Are Getting Soft
Most guys are not really into the notion of preparing a meal for the special someone in their life, it is simply easier to take them out to a nice restaurant and let the professionals handle the details. There is certainly nothing wrong with that, it has been a successful formula for generations of courting. But when you have found that really special lady, a sure fire way to show how much your really care is to prepare her a dinner to remember, all by yourself.
Women really like the idea that you went out of your way to do something special for them with your own hands, not just that you found something they might like and bought it for them. There are certainly enough commercial options out there to keep you lady happy, capitalism has not lost the notion that buying something is easier than making something, and they are more than happy to help us with this problem. Nevertheless, you can do something that she will remember for a very long time without taking cooking classes or reading some king of homemaking magazine.
But since spending the day in the kitchen does not appeal to us, we begin with the trusty poulan chainsaw in the shed. Grab that man tool and head out to a place where you can fell a tree and cut into logs for firewood. It does not diminish the effort if you have to pay someone for the honor of cutting the firewood yourself, tonight is about doing things with your own hands for her. Once you have the logs in the right lengths for your fireplace, split them into pieces and load up the truck.
Now you can stack all that firewood in the truck and it will be good not just for tonight but for the future as well. Returning home you an stack the firewood and prepare the fireplace, comfortable in that you are preparing for the special dinner, but still doing the manly thing. Just make sure that you have everything you need to make that fire, it would not do to discover at the last minute that you have no kindling or matches; this should be an error free event.
This is the part of the evening you have been avoiding, the actual preparation of an edible, even succulent meal for two, made entirely by yourself (with a little help from the supermarket). While it may be tempting to purchase a meal prepared by the supermarket and call it done, you want this to be a hand prepared evening, especially for her. You probably have almost everything you need, but one device you may not have is an electric rice cooker. They are reasonable priced and once you have used it once it will become a handy part of your cooking routine, as easy to use as a microwave.
So now you need to pick up the food for the meal, it is not as hard as you might think. Grab a bag of rice, but not the wild or long grain kind, a small bag of some king of Japanese rice will do. You will also need a bag of shredded cheese, a couple cans of cream of mushroom soup, a piece of broiled chicken or uncooked scallops or shrimp, whichever you prefer or more than one. You will want some microwaveable vegetables, some French bread and a bottle of her favorite wine.
Now that you are back home with all the goodies, begin by reading the instructions for the rice and setting that device up and turn it on, it always comes out right and is best be prepared in advance. Time to get yourself ready for the evening. After a good shower, prepare yourself as though you were taking her to an expensive restaurant for fine dining. She will very much appreciate the time you take to look great for her, even though you are not going out. The idea is to make a break with the usual dinner at home, tonight is special.
Now you are ready to prepare the meal. Start by preheating the oven to 325 degrees. The rice should be done by now, so fill an oven ready dish to about an inch and a half with the cooked rice. Now add the cream of mushroom sauce evenly over the rice. Place the uncooked shrimp or scallops on top of this layer of rice and soup (or shred the chicken and distribute that instead) and sprinkle the cheese over the whole mixture and cover with aluminum foil. Place your vegetables in a microwaveable dish and put the rice dish in the oven about 35 minutes before she will be there. Now is the time to start the fire so it will be ready when dinner is.
Start the fire and select some decent tableware. Prepare a table in front of the fireplace and cook the vegetables as instructed on the bag. Slice the bread and place on a plate on the table. You are about 30 minutes away from a very fine romantic meal. Check the rice starting at about 25 minutes of baking, you want the seafood cooked and the cheese melted, bubbling and slightly browned but not black. When its ready, put the rice dish and the vegetables on the table, pour the wine and water, and you are ready for her. It is hard to believe this all started with the trusty homelite chainsaw.
