"dates" news and stories

Dates wrapped with bacon and stuffed with fontina. Photo: Brown Eyed Baker.

Fontina-stuffed, bacon-wrapped dates. The description alone is enough to make one's mouth water.

It is probably a safe assessment to say that if you want to make everyone in the room like you (aside from vegetarians, of couse), this is exactly the kind of hors d'oeuvre you make for a party. And according to the Brown Eyed Baker, who made these, we're right. "This is quite possibly the most amazing appetizer I have ever made," she wrote. "I have never seen anything gobbled up by a crowd so quickly."

While this particular combination of fruit, cheese and meat is nothing short of culinary genius, let's be honest here: No matter what had been wrapped in that perfectly pink bacon, we'd have eaten it -- wouldn't you?

[Via Brown Eyed Baker]

Bacon-and-date-wrapped hot dogs. Photo: Fork This

Hot dogs are as ubiquitous as Ray Bans this summer, with all-beef franks gracing grills at backyard BBQs and gourmet versions making cameos on restaurant menus. But a hot dog coddled in bacon is a rare treat.

These bacon-wrapped dogs were captured by our friend Fork This at a Hot Dog Cookoff before being placed in buns and topped with crushed almonds. Though we have mixed feelings about the crushed-almond topping, these look good enough to eat straight off the grill.

Aptly called Dog Date Afternoon, the heart-attack-inducing treats sadly didn't take home top (or any) honors, but it's pretty likely there were none left for their maker to take home, either.

[Via Fork This]

During my visit in Dubai, I did what almost every tourist there does. I went to the lavish, semi-futuristic, Vegas inspired malls where you can not only go shopping, but also indoor skiing. While at the Wafi mall, an ancient Egyptian inspired building shaped like a pyramid, I made sure to stop into Wafi Gourmet, a Middle Eastern specialty food store. The selection of dates looked gorgeous.

Wafi Gourmet has a counter full of chocolate covered dates, dates stuffed with oranges, and dates stuffed with pistachios and dipped in chocolate. I started off with a tasting of their plan dates. Their juiciness, freshness, and intense sweetness satiated my palate. I couldn't imagine eating the ones covered in chocolate, but, I'm so glad I did!

Dates are one of the few fruits in Dubai that come from the United Arab of Emirates, and, at the moment, they're in season. At Wafi Gourmet, they sell a few different aged dates. Since I have a sweet tooth, the fresh ones were naturally my favorite. The ones that are aged are more savory. Currently, I'm on a quest to find the same succulent dates in NY. If you know where I can find them, please let me know.

If you prefer to stay in and cook, rather than to go out for romantic occasions, you might want to consider getting your date (and yes, it can still be a date if you're married to each other) involved in the kitchen with you if you don't already. The experience gives you more together time and makes the evening into an event, rather than just another meal. You can work together on any recipe from any cookbook, but Dinner Dates: A Cookbook for Couples Cooking Together gives you a good place to start because it is designed for this purpose. And if you tend to get a little protective of your space in the kitchen, it couldn't hurt to have the tasks divided up for you.

The "dates" are complete menus with both casual and more gourmet options. For example, "Fun with Fajitas" will get you margaritas, chicken and steak fajitas and ice cream sundaes, while the "Ultimate Valentine's Dinner" has french onion soup, filet mignon with herbed butter, and chocolate dipped strawberries and biscotti. There are a total of ten different dates, as well as information on prepping your kitchen and plenty of other foodie tips.

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With only a few days left until Valentine's, we thought that it would be fun to take a look at the role that food can play in our relationships with a little mini series leading into February 14th.

The number of dates that take place at restaurants is not something that trend-watching companies devote resources to because they know, and you know, that it is a high proportion. First dates are especially likely to involve food, since it sets a common ground while you get to know each other. The real question is what makes a great date restaurant? How do all these restaurant daters decide where they want to go?

There are a few schools of thought here. The first one says to go for the atmosphere, somewhere that is either romantic or intimate in some way and that isn't so noisy that you have to shout all night. The second one says that you should go for the food, because if the dinner is exquisite it can only help your chances for getting a second date.