A romantic dinner at home

CEBU, Philippines — Ideally, couples should have gone out last night on a Valentine’s dinner date. Eating out to celebrate an occasion has become a fad these days. Well… it has also become a spectator sport: the buttoned-up chef is the star, and patrons line the halls in hopes of a table at this year’s hottest restaurant.

Moreover, terms like “farm-to-table-molecular-gastronomy” really arouse everyone’s curiosity and are so tempting that people must have a taste of the thing. Such “taste” is good to gift a loved one on a dinner date. How romantic!

Unfortunately, Valentine’s Day this year fell on a weekday. Most working couples probably found it rather awkward to go out for a romantic dinner and then hurry back home because there was work the next day. Perhaps they just decided to stay home and let the night pass without a fuss.

Well, the truth is that the best food is still one that’s made at home. And a romantic dinner date is not really out of season yet. Yes, and why not let it happen right at home tonight, for those who don’t have work tomorrow?

In this age of the internet, it’s easy to surf food blogs and recipes online for ideas and guides on how to construct a gourmet meal at home – for a post-Valentines romantic dinner. There are various gourmet recipes that even school-graders can do. An example is the following recipe from https://juliassimplysouthern.com:

Homemade Steak

Ingredients:

2 pcs Steaks, two-inch thick

Vegetable Oil

Kosher Salt

Cracked Black Pepper

Procedure:

1. First thing – and this is a good rule for cooking all meat – get the steak out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

2. Add kosher salt to a small bowl. Add fresh cracked black pepper, and mix. It makes the process easier this way.

3. Brush each side of the steak pieces with vegetable oil.

4. Season each piece on all sides with the kosher salt and pepper mixture.

5. Prepare the grill and set heat on high. If using charcoal, let it burn well.

6. Place steaks on the grill. One side of a piece cooks in about five minutes (depending on how ‘done’ you want the steak to be). Then turn and let the other side cook for another five minutes. Turn again on an angle, to get those lovely grill marks, for two to three minutes on one side and again on the other side. Adjust cooking times according to the “doneness” you prefer for your steaks – either medium rare or well done.

7. Remove steaks from grill. Add a slice of butter – real butter! – to the top of each piece of steak. Cover the plate with foil and let the meat rest for five minutes.

A romantic dinner at home is ideal for childless couples. But even if there are kids already, the little ones will certainly cooperate if Mom and Dad tell them of the plan in advance. For sure, kids will understand that their parents need to have time by themselves once in a while.

And it’s much more economical. Even if the couple would have to dress up a bit to truly look like going on a dinner date, they won’t be paying for the ambiance or for the unnecessary presence of a chef. With a bottle of wine, can anyone beat a romantic dinner date like that?