5 Foods For Valentine's Day That Will Have You Bringing Sexy Back! Myth Or Truth?!?

So what does "sexy" really mean?

Merriam - Webster defines "sexy" as:
*sexually suggestive or stimulating
*generally attractive or interesting

Now, let me be clear, I have never thought of food as "sexy."  I mean, I love my favorite foods and all and have sampled and consumed endless items since I was brought into the world but, again, "sexy" is not an adjective I would use to describe food.

So, as we all know, Valentine's Day is coming up!  I think Valentine's Day is definitely one of those "double-edeged-sword" kinda things.   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentine's_Day    Some of us love Cupid and some of us want to shoot Cupid with his own bow, repeatedly, like in the beyond funny movie, "Valentine's Day."  http://www.valentinesdaymovie.com/dvd/index.html  Seriously, if you have not seen this movie, you must!  You simply must!

Valentine's Day Is FABULOUS If You Are:
(a) dating someone who gives you butterflies ...and flowers weekly
(b) engaged with a beautiful color D, clarity VVS2 diamond proudly secured in a platinum setting
(c) newlyweds who don't care if the toilet seat is left up
(d) married ...and happy about it

Valentine's Day is NOT Fabulous If You Are:
(a) single and have had as much luck in the dating world as Mr. Frane Selak, a Croation music teacher who is famous for his numerous escapes from fatal accidents (escaped from a derailed train / a door-less plane / a bus crash / a car into flames / 2 more car accidents).
(b) dating someone who, frankly, you started dating a month ago just to make sure you were half of a couple on Valentine's Day and plan on breaking up with on February 15th at 12:01am
(c) married...and not happy about it

I have had some bad Valentine's Days and some fabulous Valentine's Days!  I mean, haven't we all?!?  My first memories of Valentine's Day are my grade school years.  I remember my Mom would take me to our local drugstore and I would look at all the boxes of Valentine's Day cards (and I do mean all the boxes) until I found the prettiest ones.  I wanted the sparkly ones.  I wanted the colorful ones.  I did want the ones with Disney characters all over them.  I remember the addressing of my oh-so-carefully-selected Valentine's Day cards would be an event that night - my Mom would have a list of names for me (alphabetically of course because I'm a Virgo) and I would sit at the dining room table with my prettiest crayons and, with fierce determination, use my best penmanship to address each and every Valentine's Day Card.  Present date, my penmanship still leaves a lot to be desired - countless people, after looking at my signature, have remarked "Wow! You should have been a Doctor!"

I remember during my grade school years my Mom would make cupcakes for me to take to school and share with my class.  Now, I don't remember, and have never thought of, cupcakes being sexy.  Frankly, if you use dyed icing you then have a dyed icing tongue.  Is this sexy?  Depending on the moisture of the cupcake, you are very likely to be covered in cupcake crumbs.  Is this sexy?  I'm going to go with "no" on both of those.
I'm just sayin'!

Fast forward to high school.  Valentine's Day was stressful. I remember it being extremely nerve wracking.  I was as nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs the month before, and leading up to, Valentine's Day if I wasn't dating someone.  I always remember a Valentine's Day school dance and, let's face it, you don't want to be one of those people at a dance who are on the sidelines watching all the oooy - gooey couples slow dancing.  And you can't stay at home because then it just reiterates ....I'm alone on Valentine's Day!  As I said, it was an extremely nerve wracking time!

Fast forward to present day.  I love Valentine's Day! My favorite flower in the entire world is the tulip.  My love affair of the tulip began when I was growing up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and my Mom and I lived with my Pappy.  Each side of his driveway was lined with flower beds that came alive with hundreds of tulips in the Spring.  Red tulips.  Purple tulips.  Yellow tulips. White tulips. Pink tulips. Parrot tulips. Lavender tulips.  And so my love affair with tulips began!  Present day, my favorite flower is the white tulip.  Oddly enough, my wedding bouquet when Chris and I were married at our Bed & Breakfast, MOUNT VICTORIA, was 3 dozen colored tulips! I had parrot tulips. I had red tulips.  I had orange tulips.  This amazingly beautiful bouquet was tied with a brilliantly vibrant cobalt blue ribbon.  Chris' boutenniere was a parrot tulip tied with the same brilliantly vibrant cobalt blue ribbon.  There were tulips everywhere on our wedding day.  There were tulips in antique silver pitchers on the tables.  There were bundles of tulips in a French market basket on the veranda for guests to take with them as gifts.  Present date, my favorite Valentine's gift is the bouquet of 3 dozen white French tulips Chris sends me every Valentine's Day!  Oh, and absolutely not to be forgotten is the infamous beautiful little blue box securely tied with white ribbon that always accompanies my white French tulips!  http://www.tiffany.com/

So let's talk food.  Let's talk about 5 foods that will have you bringin' sexy back - is it myth or truth?!?

(1) Chocolate.  Did you know chocolate's reputation as an Aphrodisiac actually began in South America 1,500 years ago?  Eating chocolate releases the phenylethylamine and serotonin into the system producing euphoric effects.  Chocolate also gives an immediate and substantial energy boost which increases stamina.

Although I'm not a sweets kinda gal I have consumed chocolate and, personally, I did not feel a wave of euphoria rushing over me.  I'm just sayin'!

(2) Honey.  Honey is known as the nectar of Aphrodite.  Honey is sticky.  Honey is sweet.  Honey can have a super buttery texture.  Some feel honey is much more than a delicious indulgence.  Some feel it is a sensual experience.

Personally, I cannot imagine anything more unpleasant than having a head full of honey hair.  I did, however, at one time have a friend who took honey packets from a pizzeria in Little Rock, Arkansas (they placed them on the tables to drizzle on the pizza crust) and placed them in her nightstand table to enhance the many "late night rendezvous" she had.  I also know, first hand, she had to make an emergency trip to the hairdresser because she had a tangled knot of hair on her head the size of the world's largest ball of twine which is located in Cawker City, Kansas.  I'm just sayin'!

(3) Oysters.  Did you know Roman Emperors traded them, weight by weight, for gold?  There's an oyster shooter "love potion" of an oyster floating in cocktail sauce, horseradish and vodka.  I mean, Aphrodite did spring from the sea on an oyster shell, right?

Personally, I love oysters! I love oysters on the half shell.  I love oyster shooters.  I love fried oysters.  I love oyster stuffing at Thanksgiving.  I simply love oysters.  I can only tell you this - since my love affair began with the oyster (I was in the 6th grade and living in Mobile, Alabama) I have not had waves of desire and longing overcome me.  When my honey package stealing friend and I shot endless oyster shooters in Destin, Florida one Summer I did not feel the urge to go man prowling on the beaches of Florida. I simply went back to our hotel and went to bed.  I'm just sayin'!

(4) Ice cream.  I know many people who are hard core ice cream lovers.  They love the low calorie ice cream.  They love the high calorie ice cream.  They love the good 'ole plain vanilla ice cream.  They love the specialty flavor ice creams.  They love ice cream!  Ice cream actually has many nutrients, milk being one of them.

Personally, I'm not a sweets gal so I'm not an ice cream gal.  Growing up, as a child, I of course ate ice cream.  However, when I heard the sound of the bells on the ice cream truck about to drive up Grace Street in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania I was not running through the house like a bull in a china shop looking for my Mom's shiny quarters because I wanted ice cream.  No ma'am.  No way.  No how.  I wanted one of those firecracker Popsicles!  The few times I have had ice cream - like when I've craved for some unknown reason a coffee ice cream milkshake and gone to the store for the ingredients and made a super yummy milkshake, I have not had the urge after drinking my coffee ice cream milkshake to put on some Barry White and get down to business.  I'm just sayin'!

(5) Avocados. Quite simply, avocados are super rich in unsaturated fats and low in saturated fats.  This makes avocados good for your heart and arteries. When your heart is beating strong then your blood flows to all the right places.  When it's broken down like that the avocado sure doesn't sound sexy does it?  LOL!

Personally, I love avocados. I love avocados freshly cut with nothing on them.  I love my homemade guacamole, which I make and happily eat no less than twice a week.  I love avocados diced and placed on top of tacos.  I love avocados!  Now, I can honestly say based on my no less than twice a week avocado consumption I have not felt the need to hunt my husband Chris down like a wild bear hunting for food at a campground.  It has, however, led me on a hunt for more crispy, salty tortilla chips to dip my lip-smackin' good homemade guacamole in!  Just sayin'!

So what, currently, are your plans for Valentine's Day this year?  I'm excited about February 14th!  Chris will have, as always, 3 dozen beautiful white French tulips sent to me in an elegant clear glass vase - no bows - no fru-fru - no red vase.  I like the beauty of the flowers to shine through.  We, of course, will be full with guests at the B&B.  As the 2x winner of "Most Romantic Inn In America" we're sure to inspire love!   This year Valentine's Day falls on a Monday so here at the inn we are full the weekend prior to Valentine's Day, half full on Valentine's Day and half full the weekend after Valentine's Day. We'll go through our every day routine at the inn full of couples in love and then head out to a romantic dinner at my favorite restaurant in town, "Rogue's Manor."  What will we order you might be wondering?  Well, I'll order the 5-6oz petite lobster tail with their fresh vegetable of the evening.  I'll order their homemade blue cheese dressing on my salad - I'll pass on the bread.  Chris will order the Osso Buco with wild rice and their homemade vinaigrette on his salad.  Neither of us will have dessert - Chris will probably have another Negroni and I'll order one of their decadent double shot Cappucinos made by the magnificent Stella.  http://www.roguesmanor.com/menu.html

If you're an avocado lover below is my super simple guacomale recipe.  Ya know, you could serve this to your significant other in hopes of stirring some flames into a fire or you could use it as a facial mask before your Valentine's Day date!  LOL!!

LISA's GUACAMOLE
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2 avocados - mashed
2 tosses of salt (salt to taste)
4-5 turns of cracked pepper
1-2 dashes of Tabasco
juice of 1 lemon

Mix all ingredients and dig in with your favorite tortilla chip, fresh veggies or crackers!

Always "Push The Parsley!"
 ~ A Girl Cook