Date Night Idea: Bring France to YOU!

Sometimes date nights forget to exist. Sometimes date nights get a little repetitive. Sometimes date nights are exactly what you need to rekindle your romance and what’s more romantic than freakin’ Paris?! Well, if you don’t have an extra $6,829 (we priced it out) for a last-minute flight to France, bring a piece of that romance into your home.

I have to give my husband full credit for this idea because in May he was staying with our friend who is originally from France and he kept telling me about the delicious samplings of all the food they would eat for their meals.

We gallivanted through the grocery store attempting to speak in French accents. I was better since I took French for two years but my husband does this thing where he ‘speaks’ fake french and it actually sounds somewhat believable, which further annoys me because he didn’t have to sit through Monsieur Kyle’s classes.

If we couldn’t find French things, we opted for locally-made like that delicious block of Tillamook cheese. I also tripled up on my Lactaid pills and pretended I wasn’t lactose intolerant for an evening.

We set up our French cafe outside on the ground of our tiny balcony. We thought about bringing candles out but the temperature was pushing 90 and I couldn’t bear to look at heat. I wish I could take credit for the beautiful presentation (I did put down the towel) but my husband is all about “presentation is everything” and created the beautiful display for us, which I promptly destroyed in .08 seconds.

The French man himself! Now that I’m looking at this picture, we totally should have drawn thin mustanches on ourselves with my eyeliner-guess we will have to redo it.

We brought our open jelly out to try to finish it up but once your tastebuds have Bonne Maman, they become really snobby and will only accept that sweet, sugary substance.
Best bite ever? This. Ever. Brie, delicious preserves (see you get a little snobby), and soft French bread.

I found these little cups of wine and when I was checking out the lady said “Everybody is using these to cook with since it’s the perfect amount without having to open a whole bottle!” I can honestly say that never once crossed my mind. I buy wine to drink and these happen to be made in The Dalles, Oregon even- pretty tasty too.
This date night gave us an opportunity to try something different, make each other laugh, and ‘cheers’ to the love that we share between us.

We are even contemplating doing this again but choosing other countries and when we said this we both blurted out “Bulgaria!” Isn’t that strange? I attribute it to Viktor Krum hailing from there (Harry Potter reference).

We chose these for our dessert because we already ate donuts earlier in the day so we felt like eclairs would put us over the edge but little cookies with a school boy imprinted in chocolate? Just right.

Ingredients you may want on your French date night:

• French cheeses (or fromage)
• French or local wine/champagne
• Meat or Pâté (I tried that in French class and don’t need it again)
• Fruits
• French preserves or jellies
• French bread
• Beret hats
• Drawn on mustaches (optional)
• French dessert (we opted for cookies but you could also choose from Crème brûlée, Crêpes, Eclair, Macarons, Mousse, Beignet, Brioche, Croissant, Madeleine, Pain au Chocolat, Petit four, Petit Écolier…the list is endless)
• A partner that makes you smile

Our dog was also very good and sat at the edge of the balcony because she knows that her daddy does not take kindly to begging. She then turned her back after sitting like this for 5 minutes so she would not be tempted. Good girl, Sugarbelle!

Take time to get creative and spice up your date nights. It’s fun to expand your horizons, use your imagination and when delicious food is involved, it’s hard to have a bad time. That being said, I would like to recreate this date night actually in Paris some day since I’ve only been in the airport (hint hint, husband).

The New Wifestyle: Getting creative in the ways you continue to ‘date’ each other will enhance your relationship!

Questions:
1) Country date night…where would your food be from?
2) Did you take a language course in school? Which one?
3) Any date nights for you this weekend?