[Kenji86]

Ok so valentines is coming up, and yeah its saturday this year for me! And yeah i wanna cook her a belated valentines day lunch , since then we can be home alone together.. so im gonna give a belated one (say the mon afterwards) since sat everyone would be home! and yeah.. no paros in the background to spoil the mood!

Anyway I don't cook... but I'd like to think im someone who catches on fast and I think im not actually that bad of a cook (when i have cooked the odd thing or two over the years). Well at least I'm definitely not one of those pplz who can burn/somehow destroy any food i cook? haha.

anyway basically I wanted to ask for some good ideas for food. I'm cooking for a chinese girl (so i think tastes do influence here) and I want to cook something nice, affordable(doesn't have to be cheap mi goreng but lobster is out of the question) and yeah something which is suitable to my experience? Keep in mind i want like a proper lunch, not like a snack/sandwitch sorta thing, but hopefully a proper meal? I know i have no experience cooking regularly but I'm patient and I can follow recipes/instructions quite well. With that said do any of you guys have any recipes you could share for something nice?

Preferably something which fits the mood of valentines day(even if it is belated).. haha like I said no mee goreng noodles(although we both love them!). So yeah something proper it would be good if i could cook like one or two meat/proper dishes to go with rice, but failing that just one dish like say a nice noodles? Guess i'm pretty unspecific with my wording here, real sorry about that(in a rush, so that's partly to blame).

Thanks in advance! And hopefullly all of you who have a similar Valentines day planned for your gf(like me:P) or your bf... best of luck!!!

[dumplingz]

hey awww that sounds really sweet!!!! well yeah a nice lunch is good i think even if shes asian pasta would be really nice ^^
with a salad sidedish and probably some lamb chops or something

then for dessert or for something sweet probably chocolate fondue or like chocolate coated strawberries with icecream

Goodluck with it and Happy Valentines day!!!

[Kenji86]

hmm pasta sounds like a complete meal! would it be a moment killer if i were to use the bottled sauces which usually are pretty nice(for spaghetti, pasta etc) and cheap/easy to get from the local supermarket? or shoudl i make the sauce myself? which may turn out abit harder of coures

salad sidedish sounds good but what sorta salads can i whip up? something not too big in serving but nice in perhaps variety?

a dessert sounds good too! i havent had chocolate fondue before so anything to get me started? like a recipe/website to read up on? haha its worse trying to cook something i havent even ate myself! but yeah someone in another thread: http://www.soompi.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=272508 suggested this:

heart cookie cutters! i swear; they're great for this occassion. go crazy.
personally i'd make small heart shaped cakes (choco flavored) with marshmallow and strawberry in between..
so its like a homemade chocopie! portable enough yes?

so yeah... heart shaped cookies or a cake sounds nice! is there something i can make for just the two of us? like i dont want to bake a whole HUGE cake for just two of us on the day.. so whats something which is nice/romantic(e.g. the heart shaped) that i can make? either cookies/biscuits or some sorta cake/dessert?

will the lamb chops be hard/long and costly to prepare? she likes soft shell crab sushi but there's no way i can at home prepare the soft/crunchiness of soft shell crab right?

i really wanna cook something since its the most thoughtful thing i can think of.. i dont think going out to a restaurant and wasting $$ would be agood idea.. and its insane just how much roses go for in australia? like over here in malaysia(holidaying atm) its like $1.50 a rose! back in aus a dozen roses goes for like $80!! and thats like $160 when you convert it back to local currency here! jeez $1.50 rose versus $150 for a dozen red roses?! waste of money and I really don't like the whole profiting on such a special day.. so cooking sounds good! wish i picked up cooking earlier though rather than just for the occasion! just incase i ruin it =(

[xxs0hyun]

I love to cook for my boyfriend, so I have a few websites that I go to all the time:

http://kitchenparade.com/2002/10/holiday-r...entines_recipes

^A lot of those recipes are for more than two people, but you can easily scale the ingredients down.


And this site:

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/collecti...wo_recipes.html

These are recipes for meals and desserts specifically made for two people. And they have a variety of foods, from Asian to Greek to American, so you can choose whichever cuisine you want.

I hope this helps at least a little!

Oh and I think it's totally fine if you use bottled sauce (if you decide to make pasta). Bottled sauces are still delicious. You can chop up mushrooms, potatoes, onions, and bell peppers to mix into it, and even ground beef if your girlfriend likes meat.

[kiut_me]

i dont think using bottled sauces would kill the moment! you can spice it up a bit, make some baked pasta... you can add some cooked meat and cheese with the pasta and bake..
here's a recipe
http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/1679#more-1679
it's pretty easy to do... you can make lots of variations from the recipe

salad;
http://www.mycookinghut.com/category/salad/
personally i havent tried those recipes but they look yummy :9
it's one of my favourite food blogs.

as for dessert, try ice cream! http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2007/10/...ine-recipe.html
it's extremely simple!
you can also check the blog's index of sweet recipes and look around if there's anything you can make ^^

you can try visiting around food blogs and find out what you can make for her~
good luck with it! ^__^

[Jo_hee]

make friggy cakes for dessert.. It's simple



1.line some rectangular chocolate-flavored crackers on a container. I like to have M.Y. San Grahams
2.Add whip cream, make sure all the crackers are whipped
3. Put chunky slices of the fruit of your choice. If your whip cream is sweet, i suggest you put sour fruits.
4.whip some more, but a little less this time.
5.Pop in the friggy, do not put in your freezer!
6.put it still until it's cold.

7.best served when cold.


Let me take this opportunity to say, how sweet of you to do this for your girl, you even asked for help.

[dumplingz]

Pasta is really nice even bottled sauces you can just add onion garlic mince meat and seasoning in a pan then add the sauce and maybe if u have any add some red wine in it ^^ PASTA BAKE IS GOOD TOO!!!

Salad you can make any type of salad caesar salad or even a simple garden salad

Lamb chops arent costly like under 10 bucks a pack and not hard to prepare at all you put on pan high heat add salt, pepper and garlic powder if you want it tangy put some lemon on then u flip them after a minute do the same seasoning on it then leave on medium heat for a bit until cooked they are even more simple then pasta!!!

Yeah cake would be nice chocolate fondue go to a chocolate store or department store they should have like little chocolate fondue things you just put in chocolate light up candle and it melts cut up bananas some marshmallows strawberry some wafer biscuits apples or any nice fruits ^^

like this
http://www.mydreamwedding.ca/wp-content/up...ondue%20Set.jpg

[Kenji86]

@xxs0hyun:

Firstly, Thanks for the sites! Helps alot since having never searched for recipes before I don't have any reliable/great websites which have recipes like those you gave me.. so yeah keep them coming! I'll be sure to check out all the recipes

as for scaling down ingredients to make it only for two pplz... would you just logically scale it down proportionaly? like if it serves for 4 pplz halve every ingredient?

true if i make pasta adding some more ingredients like the mushrooms,onions and stuff sounds good. not too sure what "ground" beef is... as silly as it sounds :S is it just another type of beef you can buy from the supermarket? haha gosh what an embarrassing one to ask! >.< its just im overseas atm so im planning something sweet and not too exp for valentines(haha id ont wanna fight with the crowds on valentines nor do I really want to visit restaurants which hike their prices up heaps for the special day! somehow the profiteering ruins the reason behind valentines to me!) so yeah hence i can't get into the local supermarket to checkout ingredients =(

[Kenji86]

as for dessert, try ice cream! http://www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2007/10/...ine-recipe.html
it's extremely simple!
you can also check the blog's index of sweet recipes and look around if there's anything you can make ^^

you can try visiting around food blogs and find out what you can make for her~
good luck with it! ^__^

@kiut_me: thanks for the links! i'm still tossing up if a salad would be ideal because if im making a main dish like pasta , or some sort of noodle/rice dish combined with some cooked up meat, she's not a big eater so that might go best with just desert rather than also adding in a salad? a 3 course like salad, meat+pasta, and lastly the dessert sounds good though!

anyway i like that icecream link! good idea! but the only thing im wondering about is the 3 flavours in that recipe. i've never eaten peppermint but im thinking i woudln't like mintyish icecreams, and neither do i like cherry ripes either? Now i know this is for her.. but we're a couple and well if i aint enjoying it then well she won't as much either? Besides we share similar tastes and ideas/ways of thinking so maybe she won't like those flavours too. The violet crumble sounds ok but is there any other things we can substitute in the peppermint/cherry ripes place? anyway of turning one into cookies and cream flavour? Also i do like eating "honey malt crunch" icecream... anyone have any idea about the taste? it tastes like a nice, gentle honeymaltish flavour, and it has crunchy pieces in it like cornflakes(don't know if you have it overseas where you are). its sorta like frosties cereal pieces in the icecream.. anyone have any idea what i'm referring to? but yeap an icecream layer of that flavour would be simply awesome! i'll pray someone has something just like that! or some way i can even meld that into the 3 tiered icecream recipe you posted?

also she likes mango sorbet icecream and another flavour which i cant think of atm(i'll haveto drive out to the icecream place to check)... is there any nice recipes for mango sorbet? Or does anyone even have any other nice icecream recipes that taste and look great(but dont take years to make). although abit of an effort is a-ok to me!! That said the only other problem i see is the serving...(from the 3 tiered layer icecream link you sent) like 2 litres of icecream would probably go off before we finish it! and lowering the serving size to a 2 person affair.. i dont think we could still make 3 tiers with that little icecream, or could we?

but yeah definitely the icecream idea sounds great! so if you have any other great icecream recipes and ideas hit me with em!

make friggy cakes for dessert.. It's simple

Let me take this opportunity to say, how sweet of you to do this for your girl, you even asked for help.

thanks for the suggestion! will consider it when i get back from holidays and can check it out more indepth! And thanks for the compliment, haha I'm hoping it'll turn out tasty and nice! even if it is a belated valentines... besides i guess it's more than worth it to see her happy:P not to mention some very nice sideline rewards e.g. a big kiss.. or two.. or three xD maybe something else? =P thank you more for taking the time to answer my call for help though! that's even sweeter haha. =)

@dumplingz: yeah the pasta does sound good... although which should i go for?!? pasta cooked in sauce or baked pasta?! somehow the pasta in restaurants always come out all preppy looking in sauce but not baked? So i'm leaning more towards there in terms of presentation?Which on average gets you girls vote of approval(baked or non baked pasta??)?

also how much wine do you need to add in to pasta? just a few drops? or a decent volume? i dont drink wine /have any lying around but i could buy it if its worth it! just ordinary drinking wine? can it be the cheaper lower quality wine? or will the taste show out in the food by buying cheap wine? or should i grab cooking wine?

and that fondue heart shaped thing looks so sweet for valentines day occasion!! so what sorta chocolate do i put in there? do i just grab a rectangle block of cadbury chocolate or what? or is there more upmarket/chocolate suited for fondue that i should grab?recommendations ladies?

also another idea popped into mind? if i heat up the chocolate with a candle(maybe i could even use a scented/romantic smelling candle for some atmosphere?!!) can we put it on top of the icecream i make, and will it harden like normal chocolate topping does that they sell in supermarkets for your icecream(the stuff you squirt on icecream)? Or are those chocolate toppings for icecream different to using just normal melted chocolate?

P.S for anyone who could suggest even more ideas... and those who already have.. i should add that in my house we don't use any of the cooking spices/herbs? like besides your basic chicken stock, salt,sugar, you know, we don't carry all of those little bottles of spices that pplz hang up in their spice racks? so buying those more uncommon spices I'd like to avoid (when finding a recipe) but of course if its sucha great dish I may just buy it this once just something i thought I'd let you guys know.. to sort of limit/narrow down ideas? but yeah i dont' mind buying things i dont' have like certain fruits, veges, cooking stuff, just the herbs/spices you have to buy a whole small little bottle and mum never uses most of the cooking spices (e.g. tumeric etc) in her dishes so it might goto waste?

[Lavender.Sky]

aww it's so cute that you wanna cook for her
for the main course...theres already a bunch of ideas up there

u can bake heart cookies that is soo sweet
or cupcakes or brownies
and maybe some ice cream

[dumplingz]

ok ground beef is mince meat
well saucy pasta is yummy and looks good you can decorate it with parsley or something. baked pasta is yummy too but if you want presentation wise and want it not to be too hard then choose saucy pasta

Yeah the fondue is cute and those ones you can buy cheap any chocolate cadbury is fine or if you want nicer tasting chocolate then buy a whole chocolate block from the supermarket and then you chuck it in there and mix it until it melts ^^
well to harden it will take a while but i guess since icecream is cold it would be a bit quicker sounds yummy though icecream with chocolate and add a few strawberries or something or you can coat the strawberries with chocolate and have it with icecream and maybe some crushed peanuts so it would be like a sundae!!!

since your cooking a few dishes already why not go to a nice gelati store and get some take home pack and then you can decorate and add in fruits or syrup or something in it and probably some wafers that would be easier and look really nice too

[xxs0hyun]

Yeah, you can just halve the ingredients if the recipe is for four people =)

And ground beef is minced meat, like dumplingz said above, sold in the meat section of supermarkets...it's the meat used to make hamburger patties and meatballs. It might be called something different where you're from though...sorry!

I really like all of the ideas that other people have suggested...and they all seem to be within a reasonable price range, so don't worry. You said you want to make something that doesn't require many spices or ingredients. You can make chicken breast and serve it over rice pilaf; simply season the chicken with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and lemon, and either grill it or bake it in the oven. Or here's a chicken cordon bleu recipe:

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chicken-Cordo...u-I/Detail.aspx

It's just chicken breast rolled around cheese and ham, sprinkled with bread crumbs, and baked. But the end result looks nice, like you spend a lot of time on it. Maybe you can serve it with veggies or a baked potato or something.

And if you don't want to fight crowds at the market, you can buy ingredients early. If you buy meat a couple of days early, you can just put it in the freezer until the day of, and then take it out a couple of hours before you want to cook and thaw it.

As for the dessert, you can just buy the ice cream and then put it in nice bowls or cups, and garnish it with raspberries. Or you can buy cheap snacks like chocolate chip cookies and pop them into the microwave for a few seconds to make them soft and warm, and then top them with ice cream and syrup for a simple but cute dessert.

[greyxsmilesz.]

how sweet of you?
what does she like to eat?
what do you like to eat?
you could always break it off with kimbap/sushi
unless you really want a rice meal
then a well garnished decorated vegetable stir fry
and some meat course will do ~
haha typical asian meal

[misturrho]

my boyfriend and i love to cook together/for each other. he's persian so he's more advanced in the european/middle-eastern cuisines. he's really good at pasta, salad, some simple desserts... meatballs is his best. it definitely won't kill the moment if you used bottled sauce but my boyfriend and i love to try new things so we always make our own. I see everyone here has given you plenty of tips, ill offer a bit of his recipes too, but shhh don't tell him

mango and tomatoe salad (really refreshing)

mango
baby tomatoe
fresh mint leaves (just a few)
lime juice, pepper, salt

about 1 mango + some baby tomatoes would be good, just sure balanced portion. then the lime juice, pepper and salt, taste it yourself and make sure the lime juice is not drowning. that's how my boyfriend and i cook, we eyeball everything and cook it to our taste.

garlic meatballs

ground beef
parsley
cloves of garlic

chop up cloves of garlic according to your taste, few branches of parsley (use about 3), mix ground beef with some pepper, salt and throw FINE chopped garlic into the meat and mix it, along with chopped up parsley leaves, remember don't use too much cuz parsley is strong. remember to add a lil extra virgin olive oil in the meat and then make them into balls with your own hands, compress the meat a lil bit as its in your hands so it will be more stiff and not a patty.

if you want you can always buy some spaghetti and tomatoe sauce (perfer canned tomatoe paste then add real tomatoes). good luck!

now i want some of those meatballs or his infamouse "persian taco"

[Kenji86]

u can bake heart cookies that is soo sweet
or cupcakes or brownies
and maybe some ice cream

she has a sweet tooth:P for those sorta sweet cakes, she does make cupcakes at times.. haha what sorta hear shaped cookies can i make? something sweetish and soft/melts in your mouth would be good? Is there any chance of some sort of cookie which would go with a fondue i want to create? (if i can find where to get the equipment/chocolate)? that way i could combine one idea e.g heart shaped cookies with fondue chocolate! of course it would nee dto be some sort of cookie or idea which could combine the two and make them compliment each other?


@dumplingz: yeap I think i've decided to go with creamy pasta! those creamy (but not too thick and oozy/gooey!) pastas sound delish! i always have this white creamy pasta at an award winning restaurant over here, and yummm. Should i make my own sauce? Or buy premade, that i cant decide! If someone has a home made, easy to follow in terms of skill etc (but maybe long to prepare which balances the equation to ensure a nice sauce!!) white (or any other colour i guess, since good sauce shouldn't be discriminated by colour right?!) creamy sauce would be good! if not what sort of named pre-bottled pasta sauce should I look out for?

Also what sort of pasta (as i know theres a few types) do you think i should go for? But yeah dumplingz, depending if i'll go with say baking heart shaped cookies or what not, then maybe i won't make icecream and will just buy it from the gelato store?

oh and yeap asked my mum today and she said ground beef is what we call here in supermarkets as mince beef. Its basically like all diced/in small pieces meat, pplz roll/squish it into beef patties and stuff for burgers? Similarly my mum puts the mince beef straight into spaghetti as the meat

[Kenji86]

@xxs0hyun: yeap i like the ideas too!I'll keep your chicken idea in mind! and i appreciate everyone elses suggestions /recipes which are non-pasta. What i've decided to do is I'm going to stick with pasta as my main dish for the time being. Of course don't stop suggesting other ideas! because i'm only sticking with pasta so i can figure out the pasta, try and find a recipe etc. That way if things don't work out i can fall back on your other suggestions.. so yeap keep the non-pasta ideas coming! As for the pasta itself, like I sort've mentioned above I'll go for a creamyish sort of sauce pasta I'd like to add some things in too. Things italian places add in like sundried tomatoes, other sort of garnishes and spices to enhance it? Anyone care to advise?

As for fighting crowds, Valentines day is a saturday for us. So with parents home I'm going to give her a belated one on a weekday.. I'm sure she'd appreciate it much more as well than having uhh.. well parents around! haha, i'm sure you girls would rather it late than on a weekend with everyone home?!?

You also suggested icecream and garnishing with raspberries =) So based on the input from this thread I'm going to nominate my dishes as :

Main: Pasta! The type of pasta and sauce is still in the works.
Sides: I guess the side sort of coincides with dessert
Dessert: Well I'm thinking something along the lines of icecream, fondue, and the whole baking/cookies thing. Whether i do all 3, or a combination , or only two etc is what i'm still debating on. Anymore ideas to blend the three?!

Also @greyxsmilez suggestion of sushi.. she has said she liked my sushi before! The thing is i'm scared of trying it again since when I do do them, I usually delegate the easier jobs such as the sauce/syrup for the sushi rice to be mixed with to my mum. I take care of what we deem the harder part e.g. the rolling/construction of the sushi. I know mum is abit more conservative with the syrup, and to be honest it's not hard to make. I'm only worried because the one time i did let her try the sushi was my mums creation. I'm well... abit worried about doing the syrup myself this time for her.. what if she doesn't like it?! I normally just make tuna sushi =) Does anyone know how to prepare chicken which is like those found in teriyaki chicken sushi? Like somehow the texture/outside of the chicken inside the sushi and how they prepare it like that is outside my mental grip. IN other words I have no idea how you get chicken to become like that! would love to make my own chicken sushi though yumm!

Also i read in a book (but didn't buy it) how to properly make egg that they put in sushi. OUr "cook an egg in the pan and cut it up" was nice for home made sushi, but i want to make the nice egg! I saw in the book that what they did was make the egg in like a baking like tin, and i remember that once its cooked or something tehy like fold it like the layers or something? and thats how you get that blocky/layer like egg they have in sushi? Does anyone have an illustrated online recipe of this! I'd love to see it =)

btw greyxsmilez.. whats kimbap? And to answer your questions:

1) I think we both like good food. If its nice pasta, nice korean, nice chinese, we eat! I've taken her Thai befor eand we liked it too. Umm she does like Japanese though ( i asked her on the phone what she wanted in particular, without trying to give too much away!). haha i asked why and she did say she likes sushi (healthy? haha) and she absolutely loves soft shell crab sushi . But somehow i don't think theres any way someone like me could make soft shell crab right? Because i know if i whipped out awesome home made soft shell crab sushi.. she'd go insane =)

I too also like nice sushi, soft shell crab (only eaten it once or twice cos she introduced me into it). So yeah really, we like whatevers nice! so it depend son the quality of the food to be honest.

2) She likes mango sorbet icecream, and cookie dough. Also she has a penchant for sweets... like cheesecakes, cupcakes, all thsoe sweet stuff she makes. She isn't into chocolate atm (when I asked her over the phone). And yeah like i said above she likes the soft shell crab, and the home made sushi we did at home and gave to her. Besides that she like alot of things so sorry cant help much with that q.

@misturrho: great that you two cook together! I hope someday we can too ahah. She always had the "i'll die before i cook/become the cook slave for a guy" haha. but i think things are changing since she said she's taking an active effort to learn.. well to make sure im full/happy? haha I guess it's a nice thought when a girl cooks for you *hints to all the girls for their bfs sake* but of course i can see where her feminist side comes from.. with the whole lazy couch potato guy who just treats you as a cook slave... find an appreciate boy i guess? So its even greater you two cook together!

thanks for those recipes! Would you or your perasian bf have some nifty creamy pasta sauces to share? If it isn't that difficult skill wise but if it takes a long time to prepare so that it tastes excellent, then count me in! Just so peoples dont think im just after 2 minute recipes.. haha if i can manage skill wise but it takes an hr, I'll toughen it out =) Your salad recipe also gave me thoughts , perhaps i coudl do a side dish as a salad. So a main(pasta), side (salad), dessert (still to sort out cookies/icecream/fondue/some other blend or combo of them). But then maybe the side will be too much. She's not the biggest eater? And i guess i shouldn't over do it? i'd rather an awesomely tasting pasta comes out than 2 average/not so good dishes (pasta and salad).

Once again thanks for the replies, and keep the ideas flowing. I'm listening

[dumplingz]

hey how did it go what did u end up making? Hope you had a awesome valentines day ^^

[Kenji86]

hey dumplingz! actually the way things went was that valentines was a sat here, so paros were home, so i decided to do it as a belated... on monday(yest). but then we technically went out on sat so it isn't really a belated present anymore... well technically i still want to do it as part of valentines, but im doing it this thursday to allow me time to prepare everything.

I bought a fondue set, candles for heating it, Johnny Walker bar chocolate (milk flavour haha). And yeah after discussion on another online community I"ve decided to make a white, creamyish sauce based pasta... most likely penne as that's what has been suggested to me as a suitable pasta type for the sauce.

I'm yet to choose a suitable creamyis/white sauce recipe, as I"m thinking of homecooking the sauce rather than using a bottle for something more heartfelt ^^. So yeah any additional recipe suggestions or true and tested chicken/white creamyish pasta sauces anyones tried? I dont mind a complicated one , I'm willing to put in the effort! Just as long as the ingredients are found in your common, local supermarket

Could i ask if anyone has any cookie recipe.. i'm thinking of combining something baked like cookies(bought cookie moulds) and that would be suitable for adding the fondue chocolate to? Any such recipe that would be great for this? Or if not a cookie even something taht would compliment the fondue milk chocolate i'll have going?

worse come worse ill buy icecream or make it to add fondue chocolate to?thanks for asking dumplingz! ill post back here fri+ on how it went!