My first introduction to x-rated food was the movie Tom Jones.

And all going to say about Valentine's Day is that we stay in so as not to embarrass anyone else around us.

At his behest, I'm making my husband potatoes au gratin (along with some other stuff) for dinner tonight. Mmmm, taters are sooooo hot....

All right, Mrs. Kate. My Victorian sensibilities have just blocked me from this thread. I can't imagine (well I can, but the Blog is not That Kind of Place) what 'other stuff' might encompass. Oh, wait, did you mean food?

WHY would you start something like this? Oh no.

Elizabeth wrote: "To me, Valentine's Day is a Hallmark day and has very little to do with sex. It's a sweet day, a g-rated or at the very most pg-rated day."

Just how many years have you and Mr. Large been married now???

Too many, clearly :-)

Something I saw in the City Paper that is cynically romantic maybe and makes me hungry.

The ultimate food movie:

9 1/2 Weeks

Penultimate food movie:

Tampopo

What two people can do with honey, fruit and live prawns...

Here's my fun review of our Valentine's dinner.

http://pigtown-pigout.blogspot.com/2008/02/eek-mouse.html

My Valentine Day dinner really turned out yummy.

I had rosemary potatoes in the oven & had prepped my rack of lamb (with rosemary & garlic) and asparagus (where does this come from this time of year and how does it taste so fresh?), when hubby called and said he'd be working a little late, so I adjusted my timing.

When he got home, he surprised me with lobster from Graul's, still nice and warm from the steamer. What a nice starter.

Then there was the Valentine dark chocolate cake recipe from Betty Rosbottom on the web the other day which I had made the day before for dessert.

I could hardly waddle away from the table.

Hmm (or sigh) ... no mice; no potatoes; no chocolate for me last night - and I certainly do not begrudge anyone of their joyful assignations! I was firmly ensconced at my piano keyboard during dress rehearsal so trust me when I type that I was imagining being somewhere else!

OMG, you saw something "cynically romantic" in the City Paper? It wasn't, pray tell, the last 25 pages of the City Paper that are filled with 976 phone numbers?

I understand you provided a link to what you refer, but i'm at work, and there is no way I'm opening up any OMG links at the office.

It's totally safe for work, trust me. It's a poem about a Cuban sandwich. Seriously. It was perfect for a foodie V-Day. I'm not sure I would ever use "romantic" to refer to any 976 numbers.

Rob, we were at choir rehearsal last night, so no romantic dinner for us either. (I worked backstage for Balto. Opera for 18 years, so I missed many a "Hallmark holiday" in the rehearsal hall or Lyric.) Hope your show is FABulous!

Plain Rob - Not you, just the name.

Did I miss something already posted? What are you rehearsing for?

Dottie - Thanks for the good wishes. We're at Spotlighters Theatre tomorrow through 3/9. Come see us!

I think I need to get my eyes checked - I missed the colon in the topic title...

Anyhoo - I know it's not 100% romantic food, but I cooked a chicken and sausage paella for my wife for valentine's day. We definitely enjoy spending time together in the kitchen.

All I can say is that after the X-rated dinner, i would be passed out on the couch.

Plain Rob? Aw, that's not right.

I don't mind being called "Plain Rob" - just please don't call me late for dinner.

Janet - You can check on the show at www.spotlighters.org.

All - here's an interesting article from my hometown newspaper regarding dressing for dinner: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=718263

Janet--I think we have a lot in common. At least we are both readers, we tend to like many of the same restaurants, and I am always clipping Betty Rosbottom's recipes--have had great success with most of the ones we have tried.

Dahlink - the next time you need a fancy dessert, I can highly recommend the Valentine Dark-Chocolate Cake from her column this week. It was amazing!

OMG - thanks for keeping the same initials (is it an acronym if it isn't actually a word?).
I by no means meant that Rob was plain. We could call him musical Rob.

Janet - I like that ... Perhaps MusRob, or (and I even like it) PlainRob!

Just so long as he isn't PlainVanillaRob!

And thanks for the recipe suggestion, Janet.

Rob - whatever works for you!
Dalink - you're welcome! I've eaten entirely too much of it for the richness, but figure today it the limit on keeping it for leftovers.

is it an acronym if it isn't actually a word?.

Historically no, an acronym would have to be pronounceable as a word. But the term is so often used to describe initials nowadays that it may have become correct (I hate it when that happens).

An acronym is an abreviation that takes all or some of the letters of a group of words to make a new one that is typically capitlized. Some are analogs of actual (pronouncable) words, such as, CARE. Some are not pronouncable under the normal laws of English, such as FBI or NAACP and are spelled out. Some have forced pronunciations, such RBI (Ribbie, runs batted in). Some could be pronounced but aren't: POW, AARP. OMG as an acronym is an homage to the 11 year text-messaging girl that lives inside me. CU2MORO BFFS. I feel sick. L8R

Poor vanilla, it gets no respect. It is a flavor, plain is no extra flava. And vanilla has a most interesting etymology. The opposite of chocolate ice cream? Vanilla? No, because chocolate ice cream and most chocolate candy has vanilla or it's slutty cousin vanillin in it. Americans, the opposite of chocolate ice cream is broccoli or a sand castle or the square root of negative one. See, think bigger. Don't accept narrow categories. Don't fear the Reaper, go go Godzilla, purple rain is scary and toxic, where's my lithium, the Holy Roman Empire was none of those things, ... where's my hassenpfeffer?

I think we need a ruling from John McIntyre on the true meaning of "acronym". :-)

Ha! My sincerest apologies RtSO. I was trying to hide the fact that I hadn't yet figured out what the rest of the meal was going to include....

Alright, Mrs. Kate, I trust you and the fortunate Mr. Kate had a lovely meal, since you were writing of food. Valentine's Day has such breadth for other.

The Man from A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. and His Exhaustive Sidekick.  It looks like you're right Hal and Gaucho has overstepped the bounds of his tiny brain again.

Chiming in for the first time all week and hitting food/sex and "how was your Valentine's dinner" (sort of)... Seeing my sweetie on Sunday and presenting him with heart shaped brownies (homemade of course). What is better than sharing chocolate with your sweetie? Treats that are:

1. chocolate
2. heart shaped
3. able to easily eaten with fingers

And no, no reports after... he's a choco-aholic, enough said. *wink*

Here I am, officially inaugurating my new D@L persona. RTSO has Book; RfCK has ... well, I think we need to find him a better handle (or typed acronym).

Opening night was terrific as was this evening's show. Another one tomorrow as a matinee and then I'm free! - until Friday.

I think I mis-typed RfCK once to the obvious: Robert of Cross Keys RoCK. Sometimes the simplest is the best.

Sing me a song, you're the piano man...

PianoRob, good name. rFck? Guess how I pronounce it? I'm not sure I want to smell what RoCK is cooking.

I am also a Robert. Think of the madness had I not gone owly. RTSO, how about Singularity Robert? ( a point or region of infinite mass density at which space and time are infinitely distorted by gravitational forces and which is held to be the final state of matter falling into a black hole). After the holiday season I was attempting infinite mass. No luck. How god-like of me trying to rename people. Ouch, my elbow hurts.

So, the Rob's do actually have the fourth for Bridge we have been missing. What a scary thought, rOMG, RfCK (maybe soon to be RoCK), PR (which we desperately need) and me in one room, let alone at the same table.

Our finger food for the gathering: Royal Farm sushi and those yummy looking apple slices and peanut butter.

OMG - the range of your knowledge is fascinating.

Thank you, I think, Janet.

OMG - wow (and omg) - there are 4 of us Rs admitting to this blog! RTSO, the newly christened ROCK, me and you! Four Roberts all in row ... go figure.

Thank you, ROCK - but I don't know how to play Bridge