"..Love is very fond of wine, and partial to the kitchen..." - Pagliacci,third act.
I suppose this is the latest buzzword, as both the London Daily Mail and the Australian have feature articles that discover -gasp! - that single men are using their culinary skills in the kitchen to aid their love lives. Google `gastrosexuals' and you get over 2,000 hits.
Here's a little from the Daily Mail:
Goodness, would we ever have figured this out if they hadn't told us?
Far from being a new trend with a fancy name, men have been doing it for centuries...at least the smarter ones have. The literary references go back as far as the Bible.
So now this is supposed to be a new trend?
I grew up in a home with zero culinary traditions..we tended to defrost or unwrap rather than cook in my family.
I went out on my own at a fairly young age, and quickly learned to knock together a few basic things just to save time and money, but I still tended to eat out more than in, especially since my music biz career kept me on the road a lot. When I actually did anything like formal dating, the idea was to go out, hit the nightlife, spend a lot of money and ideally things would go my way that evening.
It worked okay, but eventually, a basic fact occurred to me - here I was spending borkoo money with the idea of getting a woman to come home with me or take me home with her. But if I cooked the meal, not only was it a lot cheaper, but we were already where I most wanted to be.
I'd already learned something about wines from the father of a former girlfriend who was in the wine business, so all that was necessary was to put everything else together. So I learned to cook, experimenting with some of the classic and not so classic recipes. I found it not only relatively easy but fun..especially once I started putting phase two of my plan into action, inviting women over to sample the goods.
The results achieved with a properly done coq a' vin, boeuf flammande, beef stroganoff or a well done kao pad gai with the right wine combined with whatever charm I might have possessed far exceeded my expectations when it came to my love life.Heck, even a properly grilled steak with a nice mushroom sauce and a decent Cabernet tended to be pretty useful.
And there's an enchanting side benefit...most women you invite over will feel bound to reciprocate, out of sheer competition, if nothing else. At their place, of course...tasty.
A few tips for men who read this,get a clue and are thinking about trying to run with this 'new trend'. Never order take out at a resturant, slap it on a plate and pretend you cooked it. I've seen it tried, and it's always bad news. Aside from being dishonest, ( not the way you want to start a love affair, believe me) it will end up blowing up in your face. It might work once, but sooner or later your girlfriend is going to whine at you to cook that fabulous dish again, at which point you'll have to confess and look like an absolute fool as well as a liar.
Always try out a new recipe on yourself first before you invite company over,unless it's somebody you know pretty well, and have a backup plan like ordering pizza or Chinese in case things don't go well. Practice makes perfect.
Remember how important preparation and planning is before you actually cook things. A lot of the classic Asian and European dishes involve a lot more time in prep work than in actual cooking, especially when you're just starting out. And besides,that's where the fun is.
Wine is part of the fun too.If it's not something you're familiar with, there are a number of easy to read good books that will give you the basics, and a little experimentation will teach you the rest. Again, that's part of where the fun is.
Bon chance and bon appetite!
Here's a little from the Daily Mail:
They say that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach but it seems the dining tables have turned as increasing numbers of men are taking up cooking in a bid to seduce women.
Dubbed 'Gastrosexuals' this new generation of men consider cooking more a hobby than a household chore and use their kitchen prowess to impress friends and prospective partners.
Men having the ability to cook is also now a key factor in attracting women along with salary, status, personality and appearance, according to new research.
The report 'Emergence of the Gastrosexual' cites the popularity of superstar chefs Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver as a factor in making cooking a macho pursuit.
Goodness, would we ever have figured this out if they hadn't told us?
Far from being a new trend with a fancy name, men have been doing it for centuries...at least the smarter ones have. The literary references go back as far as the Bible.
So now this is supposed to be a new trend?
I grew up in a home with zero culinary traditions..we tended to defrost or unwrap rather than cook in my family.
I went out on my own at a fairly young age, and quickly learned to knock together a few basic things just to save time and money, but I still tended to eat out more than in, especially since my music biz career kept me on the road a lot. When I actually did anything like formal dating, the idea was to go out, hit the nightlife, spend a lot of money and ideally things would go my way that evening.
It worked okay, but eventually, a basic fact occurred to me - here I was spending borkoo money with the idea of getting a woman to come home with me or take me home with her. But if I cooked the meal, not only was it a lot cheaper, but we were already where I most wanted to be.
I'd already learned something about wines from the father of a former girlfriend who was in the wine business, so all that was necessary was to put everything else together. So I learned to cook, experimenting with some of the classic and not so classic recipes. I found it not only relatively easy but fun..especially once I started putting phase two of my plan into action, inviting women over to sample the goods.
The results achieved with a properly done coq a' vin, boeuf flammande, beef stroganoff or a well done kao pad gai with the right wine combined with whatever charm I might have possessed far exceeded my expectations when it came to my love life.Heck, even a properly grilled steak with a nice mushroom sauce and a decent Cabernet tended to be pretty useful.
And there's an enchanting side benefit...most women you invite over will feel bound to reciprocate, out of sheer competition, if nothing else. At their place, of course...tasty.
A few tips for men who read this,get a clue and are thinking about trying to run with this 'new trend'. Never order take out at a resturant, slap it on a plate and pretend you cooked it. I've seen it tried, and it's always bad news. Aside from being dishonest, ( not the way you want to start a love affair, believe me) it will end up blowing up in your face. It might work once, but sooner or later your girlfriend is going to whine at you to cook that fabulous dish again, at which point you'll have to confess and look like an absolute fool as well as a liar.
Always try out a new recipe on yourself first before you invite company over,unless it's somebody you know pretty well, and have a backup plan like ordering pizza or Chinese in case things don't go well. Practice makes perfect.
Remember how important preparation and planning is before you actually cook things. A lot of the classic Asian and European dishes involve a lot more time in prep work than in actual cooking, especially when you're just starting out. And besides,that's where the fun is.
Wine is part of the fun too.If it's not something you're familiar with, there are a number of easy to read good books that will give you the basics, and a little experimentation will teach you the rest. Again, that's part of where the fun is.
Bon chance and bon appetite!
I must admit my hubby can't boil water, he would starve if I didn't cook or simply go out to eat every meal.
ReplyDeleteWhere were you when he and I met? You could at least have advised him on this excellent strategy for winning the heart of a young woman.
He must have done something right -- we were married three months after we met (and no, I was not pregnant). We've been married 36 years.
Debbie Hamilton
Right Truth