Wednesday, February 17 2010

The Food of Love

If music be the food of love, play on,

Give me excess of it; that surfeiting,

The appetite may sicken, and so die.

Duke Orsino, Twelfth Night Act 1, scene 1, 1–3

I always considered Orsino a self-indulgent dullard. Well, to be fair, that was the role Shakespeare cast for him. But honestly, the food of love is most often food. It's beyond a cliche as a signifier in our world, from 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach' (it's actually through the diaphragm and up), to the classic Mama urging her children to take seconds and thirds to avoid breaking her heart, to the idea of the romantic dinner. 

My wife and I almost always celebrate special days together with a meal, and this Valentine's day was no exception. As is my custom I made her eggs Benediction. It's like normal eggs Benedict but I use cheese sauce instead of Hollandaise (can't abide by the stuff) and serve it with a side of steamed broccoli. It's pretty tasty.

But this year the Missus told me to leave room for second breakfast. Always obliging I withdrew with great anticipation to see what she had in mind. She's a Red Seal Chef and a Pastry Chef, in addition to being the light of my life and the making of me. She doesn't cook for me that often, but that's okay: she doesn't ask me to make wine when I come home, so it evens up. Plus, she used to be my boss way back in prehistory when I cooked for a living, and she's a great teacher.

When the table was set, I was immensely glad I'd saved room, because it was stuffed French toast.

I said she doesn't cook often, but when she does . . .

She cut open fresh sliced French bread and stuffed it, dipped it into some kind of heavenly, light batter, deep fried them, napped a plate with Gran Marnier and Maple Syrup, topped them with home-made lemon curd and zest of lemon and orange then dusted the whole thing with powdered sugar. The smell alone made me want to ask her to marry me all over again.

And what was it stuffed with, you ask?

Chocolate.

If your heart didn't just go into tachycardia, contact your doctor

It was perhaps one of the most delicious things I've eaten in the last year. I can hardly wait for Valentine's day next year!

Posted by Mushy Tim AT 4:37PM

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