Creative Date Idea 26: Culinary Collaboration, Anyone?

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Hello DTube and Steemians! It's Friday, that means date night! Next up is Creative Date #26 From my book entitled 101 Creative Dates: ideas, tips, and personal experience from the life of a hopeless romantic. I love creative dates. It is fun to come up with a new idea or put a twist on a classic idea and take a girl out and have fun. I had all kinds of ideas and personal experiences with dating, so I made a book about it and recently published in on Amazon. I decided to post each chapter of my book for free here on Steemit, but if you would like to buy the book you can find the link at the bottom. Don't let "Netflix and Chill" be the default for your dates! Married, dating someone, single, there is something for everyone!

Culinary Collaboration, Anyone?

(Picture from Pixabay)

This one really doesn’t need very much of an explanation. When it comes to food, you don’t have to spend all your money on some fancy restaurant. Making dinner with your date is a great way to impress them and score some major points.

Being together in this kind of setting gives you time to talk, get to know each other, and all the stuff in between—you know, like “accidentally” bumping into them. Pass the spatula, you ask? Well, sure I can, and I may or may not tickle you in the side as I hand it to you. Smooth, I tell you. Smooth as a good Béarnaise sauce.

(Picture from Pixabay)

It really doesn’t matter what food you make. If you’re in a group, it’s fun to make something that everyone can help with. Something that I’ve done a couple of times in a group setting is Homemade Calzones. People, these are awesome. They’re fun to make, don’t cost a lot of money, and are delicious. It’s a perfect opportunity to earn some brownie points by showing off your culinary skills, whether they’re real or just faked for the night.

I grew up knowing how to cook. I cooked my first egg when I was only six years old. I remember accidentally breaking the yoke and, since I love them sunny side up, I was pretty upset by it. Mom stepped in and that’s when I learned how to crack an egg with precision. Thanks, Mom. She taught me how to cook and I will always give her the credit for my skills in the kitchen.

I love cooking so much that a few years ago, I actually started a cooking channel on YouTube called, In the Kitchen with Matt. I wanted to be able to cook “with” other people, if you will, even if it was just a virtual setting, which leads me back to the date idea. As mentioned before, Calzones are good to make because they’re easy and everyone gets involved, but this is your date, so make whatever you like, just make sure everyone can play a part in crafting the meal for the evening.

What you need for this date:

It really depends on what you are going to make. If you would like to make Calzones, watch the video here, or use the following recipe:

Mini Sausage Calzones
From In the Kitchen with Matt

Ingredients:
• 1 package frozen bread dough, thawed
• 1 package sweet Italian sausage about a half a pound
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 to 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 to 2 small 4 ounce cans of Italian style tomato sauce (depends on how saucy you want the inside)
• 1 bag of shredded mozzarella cheese (the more the merrier)
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• Some milk

Makes enough for about 8 people

1. Divide dough into a bunch of portions. In your frying pan add your sausage and using your pancake turner/spatula cut it up into little pieces it will look similar to ground beef by this point. Add the onions and garlic and grill for a bit longer. Preheat oven to 425, grease baking sheet.

1. Add in basil, oregano and tomato sauce into skillet; turn down the heat and let it simmer for a bit longer, usually about 10 minutes. Roll each dough piece into a circle as big as you want it. Put sausage mixture onto each circle; pile on the cheese.

1. Add water to the edges of the dough. Fold dough over to make your calzone. Place on prepared baking sheet.

1. In another bowl put the egg and milk in it and beat it. Brush over Calzones. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately. You may also freeze uncooked Calzones and cook them at a later date.

My YouTube Video on how to make them. (Yes it is an old one. :))

My experience with this date:

I have yet to make dinner with someone and not liked it. It doesn’t cost that much to cook a really nice meal, and everyone has fun doing it.

The last time I did this date idea, it was really successful and everyone helped out. Everyone talked with each other and asked some get-to-know questions. The food was incredible. I think the calzones get better every time I make them. We tried making an apple desert calzone and it didn’t turn out right, but it wasn’t a complete fail, because the experience was worth it.

After eating we went and played Laser Tag. My date, Michelle, was pretty handy with a gun. Good thing she was on my team. We won the game and afterwards, at the request of the girls, stopped at the gas station mini-mart for soft-freeze ice cream. I made dinner another time for Michelle on a solo date, and as you can guess, I was pretty interested in her. I surprised myself with that meal by cooking semi-authentic Filipino food, which was to die for, along with exquisite sautéed shrimp. For dessert we had strawberries on top of sliced Mango.

While cooking the dinner, just the two of us, we talked about a lot of things, she hinted at going out again, which I of course liked.

After the evening, I walked her home. She gave me a smile and nice long tight hug before going inside. But alas, it looks like I may have read her blatantly obvious signals wrong, as it wasn’t meant to be. Some girls are easy to read, and others are so nice that you haven’t got a clue. I guess it would all be much simpler if I had the power to read women’s minds like Mel Gibson had in the movie What Women Want. Well, maybe it wouldn’t be that great. I could hear a lot of things that I might rather not want to know.

You can find date ideas 1 through 25 here on my Steemit blog. :)

You can find the book here: https://amzn.to/2HEtSQw

The video and book are my original work and owned be me. :)

Video was filmed with a Canon 70D, with a Canon 50mm 1.4 lens, and a Rode VideoPro Mic.

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