Food is already a great way to say “I love you,” but here are some ways to make it even more memorable when saying I love you this Valentine’s Day!
Idea #1: Making Edible Pancake Art Together
Pancakes cook quickly and are liquid in uncooked form, making them perfect for some edible art! Get a sauce bottle, fill it up with pancake mix (easy recipe here), and get creative together!
Level 1: write each other’s names in cursive!
Level 2: make pretty heart-shaped pancakes
Level 3: get 3D and colorful with food coloring
Idea #2: A Picnic…Underneath the Stars
Anybody can do a cute picnic…instead, do one under the stars! Go to your favorite park at night, set up a couple of blankets, and have a nice intimate dinner (by candlelight if you can swing it). Then drink some champaign or wine and look up at the night sky.
If you’re in San Francisco, unfortunately, the night sky will look like this.
Instead, you can look at the skyline from Alamo Square Park, Bernal Hill, or (if you’re willing to travel farther) Mission Peak and see this.
Idea #3: A __ Crawl (ice cream, tacos, coffee, $4 toast…)
What do you two like? Pick the top 3-5 places that serve that and have a tasting. Then, rank everything and see if you agree!
Here are some initial ideas for San Francisco:
- Ice Cream: Birite, Humphrey Slocombe, Three Twins, Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous, Smitten
- Tacos: La Taqueria, Tacolicious, LOQUI (hidden gem!), Padrecito, La Oaxaquena, Taqueria Cancun
- Coffee: Ritual, Four Barrel, Blue Bottle, Contraband (check out our espresso and drip coffee class this Saturday, February 8)
- $4 Toast: Trouble Coffee, The Mill, Tartine Bakery
Idea #4: Home-Made Chocolate Fondue
Almost everything tastes better dipped in chocolate. If you two agree on this, this is a good activity for you.
First, figure out how to melt chocolate.
Then look through some initial ideas of what you can dip in it! Here are a few creative suggestions to get you started:
- rice crispy treats
- mini cream puffs (frozen)
- mochi (frozen)
- thick cut potato chips
- crystallized ginger
Beware: this might get messy…but that might be a perk 😉
Idea #5: Couples Iron Chef Potluck
If you want to make this Valentines Day a social activity with friends, have a Iron Chef-themed potluck. Have a few friends who are willing to sit it out set up a secret ingredient, let everybody know at the same time, and sit at the judge’s table. Then, all the contestants can start cooking on the day of the event a 3-course meal including this key ingredient. Once people arrive with their food, have judging and then tasting!
A spin on this is to have an around the world potluck — pick a type of food like noodles or dumplings that is present in every culture and have each couple represent a part of the world. Each person or couple then brings the dish from their part of the world. For example, people representing China would bring dumplings but people representing Mexico might bring empanadas.
Premium Idea: Bring a Chef Home
Use a service like Kitchit to bring a chef into your own home. We recommend doing a cooking class (estimated at about $200+), but you can also just lean back and have the chef cook you a great meal.
Idea #6: Combine wine, cooking and dancing for an evening you’ll both remember!
There are so many couples’ activities around food include wine tastings, cooking classes, or food tours. Why not combine all three and come to our Antologia Vinoteca experience on February 8? Get ready for a fully hands-on cooking class on ceviche, a three wine tasting flight, some sangria and flatbreads, and maybe even some salsa dancing if you’re in the mood (with tips from owner Carlos ;)). Here’s a lovely picture of how one couple plated their ceviche the last time we hosted this: