Food is Love (Happy Valentine's Day!)

This week, my husband Black Man Not Blogging (BMNB) brought me close, held me tight, looked deeply into my eyes, and, with profound sincerity, thanked me for all the home-cooked meals I've made during the last week and a half.

For BMNB, food is love.

Mind you, I don't get this.  Never have, never will.  I love food, and I like to eat well -- fresh ingredients, good flavors, and moderately healthy.  I cook not necessarily because I love cooking, but because I like to eat good, affordable, moderately healthy food.

For BMNB, it's a whole 'nother story.  For him, a home-cooked meal is an act of love, no less than a hug or a kiss.  He loves food but hates to cook.  (I don't get that, either.)  He equates the act of feeding someone well with caring for them, and caring for them with loving them.

I don't know if this transitive equation really works, but I do know that after a week and a half of Chilaquiles Casserole, Jambalaya (made the old school way -- took me about 8 hours), Chicken Chili from scratch, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Spanish Torta, Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes (from scratch -- I hate boxed pancake mixes), Lemon Chicken, Dijon Mustard and Maple Syrup Grilled Salmon, Caramelized Cauliflower with Parsley/Capers/Raisin dressing, Sauteed Spinach, BBQ Pork Loin Marinated in Tequila and Coriander, Candied Carrots and homemade Sparkling Limeade, BMNB is a happy man.

So ladies, you don't have to throw out your back riding the stripper pole trying to please a man.  Just start with a home-cooked meal.  And if you can read, you can cook -- most of those recipes came from cookbooks.  My recent fave cookbooks are Lucinda Scala Quinn's "Mad Hungry:  Feeding Men and Boys" and Katie Brown's "Katie Brown Entertains," and my favorite old-school cookbooks include Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins' "Silver Palate Cookbook" and any Frugal Gourmet Cookbook.

Ladies, take off that too-tight corset, put down your copy of "50 Shades of Grey" and your whip, and pick up a cookbook and a spatula.  It's that easy to please a man.  Really.

Happy Valentine's Day!

P.S.  The Dijon Mustard and Maple Syrup Grilled Salmon is easy -- take two salmon fillets, marinate them in a marinade of equal parts dijon mustard and pure maple syrup -- not pancake syrup-- (about a quarter or a half cup of each) for at least an hour in the fridge, grill on a George Foreman grill with a sprinkling of salt and pepper 3-5 minutes or until done.  Easy peasy!