Recently, we had another couple over to have a double date sort of thing at home. We are always looking for ways to make the night unique, keeping life fun as we stay in to save $. We decided to have a picnic at home. When our guests arrived, we had the following prepped…

A blanket and pillows spread out on the patio floor with candles. I know, I know it sounds kinky – GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER! In the center we set up the fondu set with meats, veggies, fruits, cheeses and wine. Careful: pillows + candles = good times? My fireman brother-in-law would think – not.

Seriously though, just sitting somewhere other than the dinning room table, not in chairs, under the stars really created a unique magical night just by sitting on the ground.

So the real date night idea here is to eat in another room in your home, outside, on the floor or somewhere different than the ‘usual.’ I think if you mentioned this idea or surprised your loved one with it, they would think it was pretty cool and special.

Here was the menu that night:

• Steak
• Mushrooms
• Chicken *see note below
• Carrots
• Onion
• Raspberries
• Dark Chocolate
• 2 different types of cheese
• Olive Loaf
• Wine

Here is what we learned NOT to do:

Don’t do chicken with fondu – too scary!

What do you think? Will you try it or have you tried this already?

We swear we followed the directions. 

One of our favorite restaurants is in Denver Colorado called Vesta Dipping Grill.  Not only do they have a wide selection of proteins; seared tuna, grilled lamb, smoked duck, of course chicken, and my favorite madras grilled venison.  They have vegetarian choices as well. *suppress yawn* 

What makes Vesta Dipping Grill unique however is, you guessed it, the dipping.  My G’d the dipping.

To accompany your entrée you select three dipping sauces from over 36 dipping sauces (37) in three categories: Sweet, Savory, Spicy with names like Blake St. BBQ, Wasabi Cream Sauce, Steuben’s Chimichurri. 

Each dipping sauce, and they make pairing suggestions for you if you’d like, creates a completely unique experience for every bite. Many times the dipping changes your meal into a completely new dish.

The reason we bring this up is because one dipping sauce stood out from the rest.  The almighty “Black Pepper Aioli.”

Just hand us each a spoon.

And so we set out.  The directions were easy enough.

• six cloves garlic: pressed.  
• two yokes: yoked.  
• olive oil: half cupped.
• pepper
• simple - blend garlic and yokes. drizzle oil.  constant beating until thick.  Add pepper

What’s to mess up?  ’Parently plenty.

All we could taste was the burn of raw garlic swimming in a mess of a mayonaise.  Our Aioli sauce had an outcome that the recipes didn’t mention.  It sucked balls.  We added more oil. Wrong.

We wish we had a better outcome to report. We did try again and simply cut the garlic in half. Nope.  Still sucked.

The only thing we can think of, cuz we’ll be trying this again, is our choice of olive oil.  We think we bought a cheap brand.  Garlic is garlic.  Egg yoke is egg yoke.  But oil… there’s the rub.

We went with Extra Virgin First Cold Press.  For those that make this well (and you’re probably not reading my post about it anyway) you may recognize this as my mistake.  To be determined.  For we are determined.  To make my Black Pepper Aioli Sauce NOT blow.

Wine was good – that’s what’s really important. 

We want to hear from you! Tell us how it went for you on making a restaurant favorite!  

It’s Jill. It’s my tradition with my family as long as I can remember. I am from Fargo, ND and I believe it was my aunt Pat who made it first. We have it at every holiday in our family because it is that good.

Snicker Salad Recipe: 

• Part bite sized Apples
• Part bite sized Bananas
• Part bite sized Snickers
• Mix it all together and lather it up with whipped cream.  

One big bowl of yummy goodness.

What is your food tradition? Can’t wait to hear the answers! I am so hungry.  

Make sure to keep us on the radar. We will be launching our DATE NIGHT IDEAS soon. This will include recipes, wine, movies, activities and more. 

No secret here who we voted for! As we have with every single debate, we are going over to a friend’s house for the election today. Being big on “theme night,” I looked into what Obama likes to eat. Now, there wasn’t too much out there, so what I found could have been all lies. Anywho, here is what I found: favorite restaurant is “Italian Fiesta Pizzeria” in Chicago and his favorite food to ‘make’ was chili. 

So, it was pizza or chili for us. From the title, you can see the final vote on food was CHILI. We slow cooked it in the crock-pot for 8 hours and served with cheese and sour cream. 

It was yummy. I usually will post a picture of the dish we make, but Chili is never a pretty picture. It just is not. I won’t say what I think it looks like, but it is the reason you hold a girlfriends hair back for her. 

Now Barack Obama on the other hand is very easy on the eyes to say the least and makes for a great picture. Don’t even go there and say that I am voting for him to gaze at his hunk-ish mug for four years. It is just the cherry on top of the white house. Mmmmm…cherries

Well, we love it. Every morning during the week we have steel cut oatmeal. You might think to yourself ‘gross!’ But you have to doctor it up with yummy healthy things like fruit, nuts, yogurt. In this picture, we have strawberries, walnuts and old school peanut butter (not Jiff – the stuff without all the sugar).

Steel cut oats are different from rolled oats, so make sure to look. Steel cut oats are much better for you and a great carb because they are less processed than other oats. We have all heard the health benefits. But for me if it isn’t yummy – it’s a no go. If anyone out there is thinking they are going to go pick up ‘oatmeal with brown sugar’ packets, think again. That is not healthy. Those little packets are pure sugar. You might as well eat a Snickers for breakfast.

I love organic food, but I don’t like Whole Foods for most things. I think they have capitalized on being ‘organic’ and anyone who shops there will pay a price. Higher than necessary. On the show “Top Chef,” Whole Foods is where they shop and they always have a low budget for their challenges to buy food and we are sitting going “Good luck with that $20 that has to feed 40 people! You’ll come out of there with a head of lettuce and a pinch of salt.” Jack and I have decided that “Top Chef” worked out a discount deal with Whole Foods and that is how they pull it off. Yes, this is the kind of stuff we discuss and think about. BUT, steel cut oats out of the bins there is very very cheap. Also, a bag of almonds is reasonable too.

I did a search recently for “sear oven steak.” (Wow. Fascinate me.) Top Chef made me hungry for a thickass cut of steak that I just couldn’t shake. I’m not a huge fan of reality shows per se, but watching people revel in their element… always captivating and inspiring to me. Anyway, this past season one contestant, we’ll call him Spike, made this incredible looking tomahawk steak, so called. I’d never heard of a tomahawk steak prior but now its forever branded on me brain.

As I remember he prepared it over an open flame. We’re in a condo so… open flame not really an option. But some of the others put a rippin’ pan sear on their cuts of beef and placed it in the oven. I’d never seen that technique before. I’d always thought the best way to cook a steak was open flame grill style. Maybe it is, but without that as an option, I recalled the top cheffers.

So, “sear oven steak” turned up CHOW.com Food. Drink. Fun. I gotta say, I liked it right out of the gate. We’ve got big print. Big illustrations. Short. Sweet. Exactly what you need when you’re under the gun time-wise. Or adult A.D.D..

I also found another great blog post “How to Turn Cheap ‘Choice’ Steaks into Gucci ‘Prime’ Steaks.” from the very funny SteamyKitchen.com. I found it to be a terrific method to use during the “before you grill remove the chill” time when you let the cut sit at room temp for a bit before you actually cook it.

The hybrid of these two ideas made for a great meal and I didn’t have to shell out for a pricey Dry Aged Long- Bone Ribeye aka tomahawk steak.