Warning! You have just six days to finalize your plans for Valentine’s Day 2018.
Valentine’s Day is always one of the busiest restaurant nights of the year, which isn’t exactly conducive to a nice, quiet, romantic dinner. I think it’s a much better idea to stay at home, prepare a nice meal or have one delivered, and whisper sweet nothings to your Significant Other rather than constantly yelling, “What did you say?”
If you think staying at home this year might be something you’d like to try, I have prepared a six-point checklist to help guarantee a romantic experience…
1. Make sure you have a bottle of Zinfandel on hand. Make sure it’s red Zinfandel, not White Zinfandel. More on the wine in a moment.
2. Buy a romantic (or funny — whichever fits your personality and relationship) card.
3. Decide how you’re going to handle the dinner. (My choice would be to bring something home or have something delivered.) Get the order placed and the delivery time set up several days in advance.
4. Buy a box of your sweetie’s favorite dark chocolates.
5. Drink your favorite red or white wine — whichever goes best with the main course — with your meal.
6. Open the bottle of Zinfandel when you hand over the box of chocolates.
Each item on the checklist is important, but item No. 6 is the key to a successful Valentine’s Day.
Here are a few other wine-and-chocolate pairings we’ve enjoyed in the past:
* Dark chocolate with Merlot.
* Milk chocolate with a sweet dessert wine.
* White chocolate with Moscato d’Asti.
* Chocolate-covered strawberries with Pinot Noir.
But in my experience, nothing goes better with dark chocolate than a fruit-forward (red) Zinfandel.
