The most romantic meal I've ever eaten was at the Sugar Mill restaurant on Tortola, BVI, the evening of our wedding anniversary one year. The Sugar Mill is a boutique hotel and restaurant owned and operated by Jinx & Jefferson Morgan who write (or wrote) for Bon Appetit magazine for many years. The restaurant is the most romantic I've ever been to anywhere and is situated in a Seventeenth Century sugar mill overlooking Apple Bay in the West Indies. Almost everything we had that night was grown in the Sugar Mill's own gardens or caught in the waters around Tortola. We dined by candlelight and, through the open windows, we could hear the sea below us and the palm trees rustling in the slight breeze. We started off sharing Conch Fritters and Caribbean Lobster Cornucopia with Banana Chutney appetizers. Every course came with a small glass of wine especially chosen to compliment the particular dish. Next came their incredible Hearts of Palm salad followed by my main dish that night, a local fish baked in banana leaves. Heaven! It was served with a side of their Corn Timbale with a Basil Cream sauce, which is pure magic. For dessert, one of their house specialties, Rum Pecan Torte With Brown Sugar-Butter Cream. Afterwards we sat outside on their veranda, sipping an aged Port while we watched the moonlit bay below us. It was an incredibly romantic meal and evening. Lynn

Posted by teresa_mn "I have one question......were the shrimp dead or alive when you cooked them? " Indeed a very good question. I will go off-topic in my own thread. A lot of confusion regarding seafood dead or alive, when the answer is very clear; It depends. 1. Most seafood is processed dead and is generally considered "fresh". 2. Lobsters, crabs, etc. deteriorate quickly once they die if they are not processed immediately and properly. If you can't tell by looking and examining, don't take a chance. Even there are "Lemon Laws", but if you don't know cars, don't buy used cars. 3. Live lobsters and crabs are what I mostly buy. I take chances once in a while in some stores because I know Chinese seafood stores have a huge turnover in what they sell. Everything is very fresh and I am not too bad in judging freshness. 4. To a great extend live lobsters and crabs are very much just an aesthetic requirement. If people are more acceptable as with frozen lobster tails, frozen king crab legs, frozen stone crab claws, etc. the costs of lobsters and crabs will be drastically lower because the maintenance and transportation of live seafood is extremely expensive. There is also the consideration that agricultural chemicals are used in keeping live lobsters in tanks. 5. Shrimps! It is very bad that the general public now has very low standards. Most of the shrimps, scallops you buy today in stores are chemically treated to look and taste "fresh". I only buy those shrimps which are flash frozen in 5-lb bricks. 6. There is a big big difference in taste and texture between live shrimps and the freshest frozen shrimps. I often go to a Chinese restaurant where they have live shrimps in a tank and order live shrimps. They are so good that the only way they serve them is just plain steaming. No other seasoning in cooking preparations whatsoever. dcarch

"On behalf of many people here, thank you Teresa for your generosity. You are many people's Valentine. "Here is looking at you, kid." You are a sweet heart. For me you have made cooking fun, delicious, and educational." I second that! "I keep getting overwhelmed by your posts and run out of words of appreciation for them. Just keep them coming. They are always a highlight of my visits to CF. Always informative and a treat for the eye." My thoughts, exactly! Thanks for always so kindly and generously Sharing your knowledge and talent. Rusty

LOL, 2many, I think Sriracha tastes like vinegar and hot peppers, but can't taste any other flavors. I'm a wimp, I like just a little heat but I don't want the enamel on my teeth to bubble. I think if it's so hot I can't enjoy the flavors of the food, it's kind of pointless, but Elery loves heat, the hotter the better. That is one mean looking panty liner, BTW. (grin) Sleevendog, I found a similar potato in my storage: I left it propped up on the counter for Elery to find and he didn't even notice it, LOL. So much for that Valentine's Day thought! Thanks for the sriracha tip on hummus, Elery would love that. I suppose I could just mix it in at the end, so the entire batch isn't "contaminated"? (snicker) AnnT, the steak looks delicious, as always, and although I don't care for very many hot chilies I love peppercorns. It's a different kind of heat. Annie