First meal with your partner...

[ChefJohnny]

My BF came to my restaurant and I cooked him a 12 course tasting. Im not sure if that counts, being that I was working. The first meal I cooked for him at home: Crispy Pork Belly with Caramelized Brussel Sprouts and Whole Grain Mustard Sauce to start, followed by Crispy Skin Snapper with Potatoes and Melted Leeks and Caviar Creme Fraiche.

Perks of dating a professional chef, I guess!

-Chef Johnny

[annecros]

Our first date, and my kids were with their aunt. I made baked pork chops with pinapple and mushroom, he brought the wine.

We ended up on the couch, and he skipped a funeral the next day.

The rest is history. We were both goners.

Edited March 27, 2007 by annecros (log)

[christine007]

First thing my lucky man got was my southern fried chicken, cream gravy over mashed potatos, stuffing with pecans in it, and corn.

no complaints, then or now.

[rooftop1000]

I think the first thing I cooked my hubby was "shrimp scampi"

frozen salad shrimp

garlic salt

butter

served over almost cooked rice

MMMmmmmmmm

First restaurant was The Binghampton in NJ, real dump with a view of NYC

tracey

[markk]

It was 37 years ago, and we had "Spiedies", a variation of shishkebab particular to the area around the Souther Tier of Upstate New York.

[Live It Up]

When I first met my husband, he was working 2 jobs, one of which was the 3am-11am shift at a 24 hour record store down the street from the coffee shop where I worked. I would go to the bar next door to the coffee shop after work and then stop in at the record store on my way home. I was friends with everyone who worked there, so I would bring them treats every once in a while such as brownies, apple pie, empanadas...I don't remember what else. Anyway, we wound up hooking up, and about a month later I invited him over for lasagna. He came over between his 2 jobs at about midnight, so I had already eaten. Ever seen Garfield eat lasanga? After that I couldn't get rid of him. I used to make a lasagna about once a year, so we said we measured our relationship in lasagnas. As in "we've been together for 4 lasagnas". Unfortunately, I haven't had time to make one in over a year, so no fifth lasagna for now.

[Jennifer F]

Fitting I am reading this today, our 10-year "dating" anniversary (married for almost 7). Husband will kill me for telling this, but the first thing he made me was some sort of pasta with alfredo sauce (from a powder). It was tragic. Easily in the top 5 worst things I've ever eaten. But, I stuck with him anyway (after all, his cooking was still better than mine ) and now, after culinary school and a few years working, he has completely spoiled me with good food (and he still cooks for me every day ).

[therese]

My husband cooked for me on our second date: fresh linguini with scallops in white wine and butter sauce. I moved in that night.

The first meal I ever cooked for him was calves liver and onions with mashed potatoes, with baked custard for dessert.

[KarenSherwood]

Our first dinner together was sushi, which we both knew we loved. He convinced me to try uni for the first time. (I've been hooked ever since.)

The first meal I made for him was baked chicken with a spiced apricot glaze, couscous with pistachios and blackcurrants, and roasted asparagus. I figured if he didn't like seasoned food, the relationship was doomed. He loved every bit of it, and now that's our "special" meal. He's a keeper!

[doughgirl]

The very first time my husband cooked me dinner, about 8 years ago when we first met, he grilled kebabs with chicken, steak, peppers and other veggies. He wanted a grilled theme so he also grilled corn on the cob, texas toast and for dessert he grilled poundcake, pineapple slices and served it with vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup. I don't think I've ever eaten a better meal!

The first thing I cooked him was my specialty (mexican), everything homemade: enchiladas, sopaipillas, posole and natillas.

Edited March 27, 2007 by doughgirl (log)

[Teri Everitt]

Well, he's now my ex-husband, but the first meal we ate together....he tried to impress me with blackened chicken (in an apartment without a hood fan). We had to leave the apartment for awhile.

[Sony]

Currently partnerless, but I still want to play! The times I have first cooked for "da man" in my life have consisted of the following:

High school: ramen noodle with frozen mixed vegetables. The guy was extremely impressed that I made ramen in an actual pot

In college: Pasta mixed with powdered pesto sauce and chunks of chicken breast.

Post-college: The boy made his Italian mama's chicken francese recipe (which was absolutely delicious!) I made a salad with spinach, sundried tomatoes, feta and olives. He picked out all the sun-dried tomatoes.

During grad school: I warmed up leftovers for a guy who eventually became my boyfriend. Roasted potatoes, sauteed swiss chard and spice-rubbed salmon. We're still good friends...and as oblivious as he can be about some things, I am surprised to know that he can still remember that meal.

[paul o' vendange]

I'd call it a meal, but that's because this gaulois is actually, primitively, German-blooded. Née "Boyer," mon arrière-arrière grand père was a german cattleman who settled in France....

My wife and I...we each had a Hefeweisen, Green Mill, Chicago, nearly 20 years ago. She sipped with such sensuality, her lips curling into a gentle smile even then and....

I'll stop there.

Edited March 28, 2007 by paul o' vendange (log)

[Alex]

The very first time Ms. Alex and I met face-to-face was an arranged date at a Chinese restaurant. To the best of her recollection (I'm horrible with this sort of thing, while she, 16½ years later, still remembers where we sat and what we wore), I ordered Orange Beef and she had General's Chicken.

I think the first dish she made for me was stuffed (ricotta + spinach) pasta shells. The first meal I made for her was "a salad of some sort," Chicken Cordon Bleu, and vanilla ice cream (probably Breyer's) with fresh strawberries and homemade chocolate sauce. The dessert was what sold her.

[sugar plum]

I was trying to recall what our first meals were together and all I could come up with was a number of restaurants. I think why we didn't cook for each other was because we both lived with roommates so if we cooked for our partner....we cooked for the whole house!

I don't remember what I made for him but he made me a vegetarian lasagna. He also attempted to bake me a cake for my birthday and it turned out to be a whipped cream mess! He now knows to leave the baking to me.

[cacao]

I'm dropping in after not being around on the board for a while, to see this thread.

Great topic!

The first meal I cooked for my sweetie was two days after our first 'real' date (that I asked him on). It was early autumn; my favorite time of year. I made a risotto with pureed butternut squash and fresh chantrelles. He seemed impressed ( he'd never seen a risotto in the making, I gather). There was a salad, too, and he bought tomatoes and basil. I know there was red wine, but I can't remember what; I just remember I enjoyed it.

I do remember I barely ate my food, and I love risotto ...

That meal was also the beginnings of much foraging of the fungal kind for the two of us together. Mushroom love!

Cacao

[rockdoggydog]

My GF and I went over to her grandparents house where she was house sitting and I made a simple linguine with red sauce, grilled some sausages, and a bottle of Sangiovese.

Rocky

[GTO]

High school: ramen noodle with frozen mixed vegetables. The guy was extremely impressed that I made ramen in an actual pot 

In college: Pasta mixed with powdered pesto sauce    and chunks of chicken breast.

Powdered Pesto..? Lol, how did you sleep at night?

[Torrilin]

I have no idea what I first cooked for my partner, or what he first cooked for me. For me, it was likely roast chicken, risotto or some other family staple like that.

The first Thanksgiving we had with my parents, he made his family's chestnut dressing. It vanished, and my mother had a blast being his sous chef. It wasn't the first thing he cooked for me, but I knew then that he was a keeper for sure .

[annanstee]

We cooked dinner together at my house for our second date; I can't remember what we cooked, but I do remember he made fondue for dessert from a giant Toblerone bar.

Mysteriously, he has forgotten how to cook since we got married (perhaps had something to do with me criticizing his pasta methodology), but he still cleans up.

[Sony]

High school: ramen noodle with frozen mixed vegetables. The guy was extremely impressed that I made ramen in an actual pot 

In college: Pasta mixed with powdered pesto sauce    and chunks of chicken breast.

Powdered Pesto..? Lol, how did you sleep at night?

←

I know- sometimes I still have trouble sleeping at night when I think about how I lost the love of my life because of powdered pesto sauce..... Never used the stuff since then.

Hopefully life is teaching me to refine my culinary choices AND my romantic choices.....

....well, one out of two ain't bad.

I'm loving this thread! Such great recollections (or lack thereof )

Edited March 28, 2007 by Sony (log)

[hjshorter]

It's been more than ten years, and I have no clue what we might have cooked together.

Our first meal featuring food (as opposed to something like Busboy's reply) was at Mark Miller's then-new restaurant Raku for the not yet trite pan-Asian tapas and excellent sake. Fortunately our relationship fared better than the restaurant - Miller left long ago and it became very mediocre.

[Kouign Aman]

First meal together was in the rain in the English Park in Munich. We shared plates with 3 good friends as we huddled under umbrellas and enjoyed the rain splashing just beyond us. I know there was a mushroom dish, something sausage, and the rest escapes me.

2nd was squid in its ink, and pasta, Lido (nr Venice), with prosecco. Somewhere on the island, we got gelato for dessert.

First food cooked by one of us for the other: he for me - snacks:

brie baked with intensely caramellized onions, sliced baquette, warm, and chocolate mousse.

First meal cooked by one of us for the other was probably he for me, breakfast: fried eggs, bacon, toast, coffee (which he had to buy because he was not then an imbiber).

Shortly thereafter we did thanksgiving together for my family and my sister's new inlaws at my place, and that Sunday we did a 6 course dinner for 14 at his place - his friends, people I was acquainted with. He had enough matching glassware for all the wines. We only had to pick up liqueur glasses. Although we hadnt known each other long, we did those two meals without fighting, which we thought might bode well for the future. We work well together.

[munchymom]

I've been racking my brains to try to remember - we met in college and I've killed off quite a few brain cells since then. I think the first meal together was that he took me to a party at his friends' who made pasta with long-simmered beef ragu. First meal he made for me - the contents of a care package sent by his mother - I remember pistaschios and dried fruit - supplemented by some rice with vegetables and lots of wine to drink. First meal I made for him - I shudder to think. My cooking specialties at the time were things like boiled ramen noodles combined with Campbell's Vegetarian Vegetable soup. (Yes, I added the ramen seasoning packet to that concoction - I must have gotten ten years' worth of sodium with every serving.) Whatever I made, it can't have been good. Thankfully things are better now. First and several subsequent restaurant meals: Tuesdays at Zorba's Restaurant on Green St. in Champaign, IL. The Tuesday special was $1 veggie sandwiches and $1 baskets of fries - a pretty substantial meal for two bucks.

[reesek]

breakfast.

i cooked him a birthday dinner not long after we started dating and think he too had a brussels sprout revelation. (his mom does not hate me, but she's english - her brussels are not changing.)