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anytime my husband buys the groceries, cooks them and cleans is a romantic night for me!

Romantical?

Well, first of all "romantical" is a term used by Olive Oyl when talking to Popeye.
My husband surprised me with an overnight visit to a hotel and when we entered the room there was a trail of rosepetals leading to a cooler (used to keep the food warm) filled with take-out containers from Joe's Shanghai. He had prepared the surprise for hours- very romantical!

One morning, I woke up and rolled over, and my boyfriend was already out of bed. I could hear sizzling and smell frying. When I stumbled, bleary-eyed, into the kitchen, I could see that he was frying up those sliced canned potatoes with onions. "How do you want your eggs?" he said.

Canned potatoes and poorly-fried eggs aren't the most gourmet food, but cooking was absolutely not his thing, and the fact that he would do that for me was just so sweet and cool. I melted. Too bad he turned out to be a douchebag.

We were in Portugal and our schedules were off from the rest of the group when we arrived -- not to mention off of the normal European eating hours. We stumbled on this deserted, but pristine yellow hotel on the bank of the river Duoro. We proceeded to have an impeccably prepared lunch overlooking the water -- it was like a picture in a brochure. An entire restaurant to ourselves with a tuxedo'd server who did his best to speak English to our tired selves and all we asked for was "the recommendation" I don't know if we'll ever get back, but its my top meal ever and very intimate.

PS. My piano teacher from Ukraine also uses the word "romantical" and it is one of my favorite words.

@PumpkinBear- Both.
The bf will not dare cook something, that would not be romantic unless you consider going to the ER and having your stomach pumped a romantic evening. So he takes me out and to romanitc places with water views, yadda yadda. Just sitting in the living room having take out Chinese watching a good movie with a nice fire going is romanic to me.

What a lovely gift from your husband! How thoughtful!!

My husband lacks creativity and relies on me for all of that, which is fine because it is what I do, and I love it. The poor guy rarely knows where to even make a reservation to surprise me with, and has learned to just ask me where I would like to go whenever we go out.

For romantic holidays (Valentine's day, anniversaries, etc.), we often choose to stay home, and since I don't want to have to labor over a meal on those occasions (and, I definitely don't want him doing it, because yikes!), we both pitch in to make the evening special, which usually means an aphrodisiac picnic in our living room or bedroom. These are the most romantic times ever, and they come together so beautifully.

It would never occur to my hubby to hire a private chef, but that's ok. I really dig our sexy little picnics. :)

Cheers,

~ Paula

Adam, you naughty boy, teehee. Putting @gastronomeg quote on the cover of the SE newsletter. . .I wonder how many readers are scratching their heads over it.

I maintain that, not only should you never trust a skinny cook (excluding Anthony Bourdain), you should also never trust someone who doesn't like to eat.

He loved chicken livers.

I think liver is what Satan dines on. I can't be in the same room with it. My gag reflex is mighty.

One Sunday morning, I found myself sauteeing chicken livers in butter, the way his mother had fixed them for him. The fan was sucking everything straight up from the saute pan, and I was using a long-handled wooden spoon to toss them around, and I realized I loved him.

He realized it, too, and then we married.....................

A little late joining the party, but here goes. For my ex-husband (no, this isn't why he is ex), I am allergic to shellfish and the stench of smoked oysters makes me nauseous, but he loved them- so I bought a can of gourmet smoked oysters, his fave sharp cheddar cheese and crackers, then took the kids out for a few hours so he could watch his football game with no interruptions and his favorite snack. As far as the most romantic thing he ever made for me? Fried Calamari at my favorite restaurant for my birthday- he and the boys left me all of the tentacles!