Au naturel cooking experience can sizzle

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/02/2025 (602 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: My new love is a wild thing and has suggested we cook in the nude on Valentine’s Day! On the surface this seems like a great idea, but now I suspect we’ll never make it to dinner. Then the whole meal will get burned to a crisp while we’re totally distracted in the bedroom.

— Knowing My Luck, St. Norbert

Dear Knowing: Are you bragging or complaining? If you want more romantic nights with this new adventurous mate, the only smart answer to an invitation like this is, “I can hardly wait to try it!”

Then say, “What can I bring to the table to make it even more fun?” He will suspect he’s finally met his match!

Dear Miss Lonelyhearts: I failed the Valentine’s Day test last year as a new husband. Oddly, I was always good at remembering my previous wife on that day.

I was never caught empty-handed, even when I was just dating regular girlfriends. I was never the guy who buys the last mangy rose out of the grocery store bucket at 7 p.m.

But last year, after being married for only six months, I blew my first Valentine’s night with the love of my life! My bride had baked my favourite chocolate cake and was barbecuing steaks out on the deck when I finally got home with a pathetic card from the children’s section of a drugstore.

I’d almost forgotten the special night completely. I apologized and she was gracious, but I could tell she was disappointed.

Before she married me, I promised her I’d never be one of those thoughtless husbands. She said, “Not to worry. I’ll never stay married to another one of those guys. Life is too short.”

But once we were married and I could feel how much she loved me, I totally relaxed — and look where that got me.

What can I do this year to make a better impression?

— Second Chance, East Kildonan

Dear Second Chance: Get started early! Make a dinner reservation at a romantic restaurant new to both of you right now — two full weeks ahead. Read some reviews and pick a place where staff don’t already know you from dining with other women there.

Drop in this week and check out the room, picking out a table for privacy. Also, look at the menu, and know what you want, so you don’t bury your head in it when you get there.

Hide a small card and a jewelry gift in your pocket.

Make a plan for after dinner as well. Consider hitting a club for music and dancing or going home for a romantic spa night with candles, exotic music and massages.

This year she’ll have something to brag about to her close friends, and it may give more her confidence in you, as her life mate.

Please send your questions and comments to lovecoach@hotmail.com or Miss Lonelyhearts c/o the Winnipeg Free Press, 1355 Mountain Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R2X 3B6.

Maureen Scurfield
Advice columnist

Maureen Scurfield writes the Miss Lonelyhearts advice column.

   Read full biography