Yummy Magazine Vol 4 - Nairobi Restaurant Week 2015 | Page 45

VALENTINE’S DAY RECIPES text AGNES PEILLET cooking WITH LOVE Going out to restaurants for Valentine’s Day is great, but sometimes it pays to go the extra mile and make it special within the walls of your home R eally guys? Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and you’ve got nothing planned? No little box with something shiny inside tucked away somewhere? No tiny item of clothing covered in lace, bows and a crystal or two for her but really for you? No reservation at some super fancy new hip restaurant? Don’t panic. We’ve got your back. This year you are going to celebrate love, this most pesky and elusive of emotions with a Date Night at Home! Think of the possibilities. When she hears that you’ve booked a hot reservation for two at home, she’ll be mad. She’ll throw her arms up in the air, stomp her feet, throw a major tantrum, yell that she hates you, that you don’t deserve her and can start packing! Think of it as the perfect scenario for a break-up and make-up session. How you want to tame her will depend on the type of a lioness you got. Once she is in that relenting space, you can go in for the kill with food, love food that is. Nothing says I love you more than a mouth watering dish prepared with oodles of tender care. For a kinky and daring scenario like the 9 1/2 weeks’ extremely sensual food scene in front of the fridge, stock up on hand-feeding food. Think maraschino cherries, strawberries, honey, Champagne and if you dare, butter. Where aphrodisiac food is concerned, no forks are allowed. Just like in French kissing, lips and tongues are the only ‘utensils’ you’ll need. And because the mind is the most powerful aphrodisiac of all, make sure to have a silk scarf to blindfold her. For a cook-up, hook-up and curlup combination where the act of cooking together is a way to ease into things, think oysters, honey, asparagus, bananas, caviar, and figs. If you plan on cooking, check out our V-day menu planner which includes watermelon and mozzarella, salmon and asparagus and a chocolate fon- dant—all of which include sex-drive increasing ingredients. Whether it’s the shape, the colour, the consistency, the smell or the texture, aphrodisiac food is only as sensual as at the person you share it with and the mood you set for sharing it. So think beyond intercourse, channel your inner romantic and light up some candles, start a fire, plan to picnic in front of the fireplace wrapped up in some fake animal skin and get it on like they do on the Discovery Channel. For a cook-up, hook-up and curlup combination, ease into things with oysters, honey, asparagus, bananas, caviar, and figs. 45.