Dinner Dates: A Cookbook for Couples Cooking Together (Paperback)

~ (Author) "A little nervous because it' your first dinner date?..." (more)
Key Phrases: bunch fresh basil, Chef Uno, Chef Due, Dinner Dates (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Getting tired of the local restaurant scene, not to mention the expense of eating out? Here's the ideal recipe for satisfying your appetites,---a cookbook that helps couples create tantalizing, romantic meals together.

DINNER DATES features a series of delicious and elegant, yet simple menus that take two people step by step through the preparation of wonderful five-course meals, from shopping and equipping the kitchen to dividing up the tasks required for assembling the menu.Accessible to any level of culinary expertise, the directions for each recipe are shared by " Chef Uno" and "Chef Due" and are choreographed so that cooking is a pleasurable joint undertaking as creative and fun as the dining experience itself. From mouth-watering pastas and succulent seafood to picnics and paella, here is a wide array of menus to please a variety of taste buds -- two by two.

About the Author

MARTHA COTTON is an actress, singer, and caterer who specializes in studying human behavior at a design-research consulting firm.Martha learned the secrets of cooking with others at an early age and has been honing her skills since she was tall enough to reach the stove.She currently lives in Chicago where she creates Dinner Dates with her husband, Lance.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (February 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380798816
• ISBN-13: 978-0380798810
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 6.1 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #192,964 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Romantic, delicious, and fun, February 2, 2001

By	Gretta Bartels (Seattle) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This cookbook is great fun for couples who enjoy working together to produce something: delicious food, in this case. I wouldn't recommend it under the following circumstances:

For couples who are currently going through a bad patch, this cookbook will probably just make things worse: it requires a lot of cooperation and a sense of humor.

For couples who are competitive with each other, you might not like the results when you get out of sync with each other on the instructions because one of you was trying to do his/her part better or faster or with more seasoning. (Not that I'm speaking from experience!)

For couples without access to a well-equipped kitchen, you will be frustrated by the equipment and ingredients that you don't have. This book doesn't require anything really exotic, but it sure is a lot easier if you have lots of different types of pots and pans, a food processor, stove, oven, microwave, and plenty of timers.

Aside from those caveats, you really can't go wrong. The instructions are spelled out in detail, so that even couples without a lot of cooking experience can create complex, exciting meals together without running into the timing pitfalls that usually plague beginning cooks.

Enjoy -- and better clean up the dishes as you go along, because you'll probably be in too romantic a mood to wash dishes by the time you're done cooking, eating, and drinking wine!

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Idea!, February 19, 2000

By	A reader (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This is a great book for people who don't want to spend a bundle on a dinner date, but still want to have a special evening. The food is very tasty and the menus, including wine, are well balanced. Also, the instructions are easy enough for my kitchen-clueless boyfriend to follow. Most importantly, cooking these meals together created very low-stress, romantic evenings. Be sure to treat it like a "real" date (candles, flowers, and fun music) and you'll have a great time.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best book ever!, January 6, 2002

By	Julie (Miami Beach, FL United States) - See all my reviews

my new husband and i adore this book! i have given it as a gift to so many of our couple friends. the pages are worn and spattered with food as we fight over the book while cooking all the delicious meals together. my husband, who doesn't like to cook, loves preparing these meals with me! he loves the way it all comes together at the end, and we dont have to determine who does what, its all detailed for chef 1 and chef 2. we have had so many wonderfully romantic and fun nights together thanks to this book. my only complaint is that there's not a dinner dates 2, 3, 4 etc. we are almost done with this book and would love to buy more!