Valentine’s Day is upon us. If you listen real hard, you can sense a collective sigh of stress from lovers and wanna be lovers everywhere! This is unfortunate, because Valentine’s Day should be about showing that we care to friends, family members, and lovers. It should be about nurturing, basking in the warmth of renewed and long-term friendship and love, and about happiness through companionship.
Whether OR NOT you have a soul mate, a lover, a spouse, a date, a companion, a fiancé, a friend with benefits, a partner, or whatever label you want to use, this day of love should be about expressing our care toward others—toward everyone important in our lives. Remember when we were kids and we would give those wretched, chalky, commercial candy hearts to everyone in our class along with those little “be mine” cards? Don’t get me wrong, I can do without the chalky, artificial flavor and artificially colored candy hearts! But where is the camaraderie of Valentine’s Day we learned in grade school?
So your challenge this week—this crazy week of Valentine’s Day coming and going—is to be a little silly, be a little charming, and be a lot more simple. Pick one person—a friend, lover, family member, neighbor, stranger, co-worker, etc—and invite him/her over for a home cooked meal. That’s it. No, not a tv dinner. No not ordering in for food. And NO not going out to a restaurant. No, invite someone over to wet their appetite, consume happiness, celebrate satiety, bask in breakfast, lounge in lunch, or dedicate dinner—okay, okay, just eat together! And if you want some extra credit this week—give em one of those cheesy Valentine’s Day cards (You know like one with a Carebear on it that says something like “I care about you—be my Valentine” or one with Smurfs on it that says, “I think you are smurfy—be my Valentine!” You get the picture I hope).
I dare you to find somebody that won’t accept your invitation! Who would possibly say “no” to a home-cooked meal (well, other than a stranger cuz that could be a little creepy–just sayin). Now remember, this doesn’t have to be anything crazy, glamorous, sexy, or the like, just cook a meal and enjoy it together this week. Something simple. This is about the companionship and the offer, not about the culinary craftiness. And if you have a spouse/partner/roommate that is already used to you cooking meals for her/him all the time, than spice it up. Deliver them a card, require a dress code, decorate the place, turn off the tv, send the kids to a friend’s place, and enjoy a special meal together.
Need more ideas? Unwilling to cook something simple? Scared because the person you would like to cook for has food allergies/sensitivities/exclusions from her/his diet? Well say no more Casanova! Cooking classes are coming up to help you. Check out Nourished Health Cooking School’s Aphrodisiac Cooking classes.