Romancing Your Spouse by Wining and Dining

Romancing your spouse? Seems unnecessary, but is it ever so important. Keeping a relationship fresh and exciting for years is a challenging but rewarding proposition for both partners. It takes ingenuity and persistence as well as patience and faith. Little gestures and regular rituals help keep the connection alive and enduring. Here is one ritual that my spouse and I really enjoy.

On Saturday nights, we love to plan a cozy, intimate get-together for ourselves. My husband loves to cook and goes to great lengths preparing an extra special meal for the two of us. On Saturday mornings, he goes shopping at a number of specialty stores where he browses the specialty cheeses, picks out interesting vegetables and fruit, visits the fish market, and stops by the chocolatier to buy the most delectable treats. And as if that was not enough, on the way home he picks up a delightful bottle of sparkling wine.

My favorite romantic meals have seafood like smoked salmon, mussels or scallops as the centerpiece. My husband will make a special sauce, usually an experiment and a bit spicy to heighten the senses. He is a perfectionist and will often explain painstakingly that it is not as good as he expected and how he would do it differently next time. I know better than to say anything because, to me, it was one of the best meals I had ever had. So I listen while he chatters on about all his future improvements, all the while savoring the exquisite food that had been laid out in front of me.

In addition to buying fish, he also brings home gourmet cheeses usually made in Quebec, Canada. The Quebecois have a respectable international reputation for their cheeses. We particularly enjoy the stinky and soft ones like Riopelle, Douanier and Oka. The softer cheeses are spread on delectable, homemade, whole grain bread that is, in fact, made by me. I make my own contributions to our romantic meals and supplying the bread is one of them.

For a healthy add-on, we include grapes, black or red if available, leafy green salad and an exotic vegetable dish as part of the meal. The fruits and vegetables add a freshness and lightness to the meal, balancing the denseness of the cheeses and seafood. We have fun tasting purple potatoes or yellow carrots that were discovered in a local organic food store. The meal is accompanied with a good sparkling wine or, even better, champagne. After dinner and with the last glass of wine, the chocolates are brought out and life seems particularly fine and mellow.

Besides supplying the bread, it is my job to establish the romantic atmosphere. In winter, I start a fire in the fireplace and put a tablecloth on the coffee table in front of the fire, setting it beautifully with tall, fluted champagne glasses, cloth napkins clipped with pewter napkin rings, and pewter goblets for refreshing, iced water. The radio is turned on to a smooth jazz station and the lights turned low for a soft, glowing ambiance. In the summer, the meal and music are moved outdoors where we can enjoy the colorful flower garden and fresh air.

Each and every dinner, where both of us have taken some special care in preparing, is special. Indeed, we often look back to these occasions with fond and enduring memories.