WWTBAM Bored

So I'm cooking for the guy who gave me his phone number. And no this isn't the first date. I can pretty much cook anything if I have a recipe in front of me. I just can't seem to find something that has me excited about cooking.
I need help with the menu. What in the world should I cook for this boy?

otherindigo wrote:So I'm cooking for the guy who gave me his phone number. And no this isn't the first date. I can pretty much cook anything if I have a recipe in front of me. I just can't seem to find something that has me excited about cooking.
I need help with the menu. What in the world should I cook for this boy?

Maybe you should just make the bed.

Why does nothing excite you? Don't you have any favorite foods? I'd cook something I've cooked before. Nothing could be worse than screwing up a dish you haven't done before. I once was asked by two young women in a grocery how they should cook tongue. I told them that if they didn't know their boyfriends liked it, and they didn't either, then they should cook something they knew.

That being said, how about Chicken Marsala?

Bob Juch wrote:

otherindigo wrote:So I'm cooking for the guy who gave me his phone number. And no this isn't the first date. I can pretty much cook anything if I have a recipe in front of me. I just can't seem to find something that has me excited about cooking.
I need help with the menu. What in the world should I cook for this boy?

Maybe you should just make the bed.

Why does nothing excite you? Don't you have any favorite foods? I'd cook something I've cooked before. Nothing could be worse than screwing up a dish you haven't done before. I once was asked by two young women in a grocery how they should cook tongue. I told them that if they didn't know their boyfriends liked it, and they didn't either, then they should cook something they knew.

That being said, how about Chicken Marsala?

So, so many came to mind with your bed comment, like "Why make the bed with what you can do on the couch?" Alas, the bedroom door will remain closed. This is just a dinner and movie night, not booty night.

AFA what I've cooked before... yikes I've cooked many a dish in my lifetime so far. As a kid and even today, I loved being in the kitchen with my MawMaw.

Chicken Marsala sounds delish. So a nice salad as a side and ? Should I wow him with dessert also? I mean I don't want to over do it. lol

Can't go wrong with a killer spaghetti sauce or a nice lasagna. Salad, bread and a dessert and you're all set. A lot can be done in advance as well, so not a lot of messy pots and pans to clean up afterwards.

He may not be a food dude, or anywhere near this analytical, but I tend to put a lot of weight on what's cooked at a home-cooked meal. Chicken Marsala is nice, and salad and rice naturally go with, but if he's a steak-and-potatoes guy, he might get all kinds of negative vibes:

"Uh-oh. Chick food. Is she trying to change me already?"

I like Kay's advice a lot, particularly the part about not a lot to set up or clean up.

If you don't yet know what kind of food he likes, but you're pretty sure he's not a vegetarian, you could probably make him very happy with a salad, steak and baked potato this time around. Save the fancier dishes for next time, after you've had a chance to discover the sort of cuisine that he likes best.

Can you find out what dishes (other than you!) this guy likes? And pick one you both feel good about? You don't want to run into "I didn't know you were a vegan" for the 1st time at dinner at your house.

(We did, once, with a family friend who had become a vegetarian, at least, since we'd seen them last & neglected to inform us. We did manage to "flesh out" (well, maybe that's the wrong term!) the salad parts of the meal nicely, but we wish we'd been forwarned.)

Well we have had food discussions and have eaten out several times.

He loves spaghetti and meatballs (though it's his mother's recipe and well I'm not sure I'm up for competing with mom).
Loves grilled chicken, pizza, "chinese food", steak, etc, etc, etc...
He's a typical Southern male from what I can gather. Veggie-wise I'm not really certain about it.

kayrharris wrote:Can't go wrong with a killer spaghetti sauce or a nice lasagna. Salad, bread and a dessert and you're all set. A lot can be done in advance as well, so not a lot of messy pots and pans to clean up afterwards.

This is exactly what I would suggest.

Although you might think that something light like a panna cotta would be good for dessert, do something chocolatey. Men like chocolate almost as much as women do.

Lasagna.

I don't have a recipe--I just know how to make it.

Though italian food isn't the best food to mug out after.

otherindigo wrote:So I'm cooking for the guy who gave me his phone number. And no this isn't the first date. I can pretty much cook anything if I have a recipe in front of me. I just can't seem to find something that has me excited about cooking.
I need help with the menu. What in the world should I cook for this boy?

If it is going to be a long date or especially if he likes to cook as well, I have a really wonderful recipe for homemade tomato sauce for pasta. It takes a couple of hours to make and simmer, which is great time to be stuck together in the close quarters of the kitchen talking and sipping some vino.

Italian is good. Actually, everything mentioned here would work. Hopefully, though, if he's like me, he's not wearing anything white.

Seriously...I put on a white shirt, sweatshirt, sweater, etc., and sauce from the Italian restaurant 3 blocks away travels through the air, slips under the crack in the door, and splats all over me.

Really, if he likes ya, you could cook Richard Simmons' gym shorts and he'd be fine with it.

And he'd take you out to dinner more often, which is an added bonus.

T_Bone0806 wrote:Really, if he likes ya, you could cook Richard Simmons' gym shorts and he'd be fine with it.

And he'd take you out to dinner more often, which is an added bonus.

Rec!

Homemade pizza.

It's easy to make good yeast pizza dough.
Grilled chicken, fresh basil, carmelized onions, goat cheese.

Or pepperoni, mushroom, peppers etc....

Or prep bunches of things in tiny bits and make several different little pizzas to decide what you like the best....

Good wine or good beer.
Homemade chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

Casual, fun and delish.