Anonymous wrote:For friends dinner, simple green salad with oil and sherry vinegar, little tomatoes, and sweet onion.

If you want another veggie, roast cauliflower or mushrooms and dress with olive oil, pimenton, roasted garlic, sherry vinegar.

For you and DH, buy the good frozen manicotti or whatever you like from the Italian deli. Get wine, dessert, and charcuterie too. We go to Vace.

This is our strategy. We picked up a couple of fresh pastas from an Italian deli - it's been our tradition since our first V-Day. Also made a big salad and an appropriately ridiculous chocolate dessert. Drinking a nice bottle of wine tonight because my digestion wasn't up for it last night.

Do you think I need to hire a personal chef to
prepare cheese sticks and a Valentino type of salad?

I make chocolate covered strawberries and pretzels as special treats on Valentines Day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our personal chef is doing a Swiss fondue thing. We are having the kids and grandparents over.

I hope this is a joke because fondue has got to be easiest things to do on your own and what a waste of money to use a personal chef for

I know that some DCUMers (not me) have megamoney. I assumed the PP has a full-time personal chef to do all the cooking, whether that means a PBJ for the kids or a gourmet dinner party. In that kind of household, I imagine it would only be a waste of a personal chef to not ask them for whatever you want, even if it is something easy like fondue.

Just because something is easy doesn’t mean it isn’t time consuming or tedious. I don’t have the knife skills of a professional chef, so when I made fondue, it took me a while to cut everything into bite size pieces for dipping. If I had a private chef and wanted to have the extended family over, I would have the chef prepare the meal for sure, and I would enjoy not having to make my own celebratory meal myself.

For friends dinner, simple green salad with oil and sherry vinegar, little tomatoes, and sweet onion.

If you want another veggie, roast cauliflower or mushrooms and dress with olive oil, pimenton, roasted garlic, sherry vinegar.

For you and DH, buy the good frozen manicotti or whatever you like from the Italian deli. Get wine, dessert, and charcuterie too. We go to Vace.