Make your Valentine’s Day rosy

Eating out on Valentine’s Day is a bad idea. Don’t just take my word for it; Bon Appetit, The Kitchn, and The Huffington Post all agree with me. The food is overpriced, restaurants are crowded, and the staff is likely to be in a foul mood. You are better off making your sweetie a romantic dinner at home.

This route, too, can be fraught with peril, which is why Serious Eats has five tips to make your Valentine’s Day meal the best it can be. You may be tempted to make something fancy and French, but that only makes sense if that’s what your significant other wants to eat. The most romantic dish is the one that he or she really loves, even if it’s just mac and cheese.

Another tip is that anything that can be made in advance should be – you don’t want to waste your romantic evening doing prep that could have been done a day or two before. This goes for everything from cocktails to dessert.

Probably the biggest mistake you can make is going overboard and wearing yourself out. You don’t have to make a fancy appetizer, complicated main dish AND a showstopper dessert. The KISS principle seems well-suited to Valentine’s Day, doesn’t it? If you have a sweet tooth, put your effort into an impressive dessert. If savory is your thing, concentrate on making the main dish shine.

If you’re staying in but just looking for new ideas on what to make, Australian Gourmet Traveller has some lovely ideas that involve cooking with roses. Many of the recipes use rosewater, which adds a romantic – and delicious – fragrance to dishes. The recipes cover everything from drinks to main dishes to sweets, like the Strawberry and rose hazelnut tart pictured above.