Date #24: Grilled Cheese & Anaconda Night: A Date that's Easy and Cheesy

THE PROBLEM
Now I'm not complaining but there is definitely a certain amount of "Home-Ec" I missed out on in high school that has resulted in a declined capacity to...play housewife [although I play scrabble and soccer very well]. Unfortunately, we are now in this epic zeitgeist where cooking is cool: it's Bourdain, it's the cooking channel, it's something you're going to have to do on a date eventually.
THE SOLUTION
Although I do recommend learning to cook [Old Town Cooking School Date] there is an easy, albeit cheesy, romantic solution to the microwave-tv-dinner problem. So I introduce: The Grilled Cheese night.

GOOD FOR
Third dates: Perhaps a home visit.
YOU NEED
1. Stovetop/Panini Maker: You will be mocked if you use a microwave.
2. Wheat bread: No panini maker, go with sliced bread
3. Cheese: Can't go wrong with kraft singles (my mom would kill me), chevre noir is a fancy goat cheese that's cheddared I recommend it for grilled cheeses so good.
4. Butter or olive oil: use this to lubricate the bread for grilling (butter is always better)
5. Wine and beer and your favorite dessert of your youth
6. Accoutrements: there are several different ingredients that can go on grilled cheese. I like sliced tomatos, others like bacon and pickles. have several options to customize.
6. Aprons: sexiest apron, men and women, is the half apron that goes from your waist down like chefs wear, hell yeah.
7. An awful movie: I recommend Anaconda or Zombieland

THE DATE: GRILLED CHEESE NIGHT
1. Invite your date over to your home tell them to bring their favorite childhood snacks .
2. Prepare ingredients, clean up your damn house, prepare roommates, light some candles.
3. When your date arrives you already have on your apron. Pop the cork, have them sit. Ask what they would like on the sandwich (show the accoutrements) and watch you put ingredients together and grill em. Chat about the favorite foods of your youth: Gushers, Snickers, Black Licorice (ew).
4. Finish the sandwiches, and sit down by the tv giggle about burning them insensitively, pop some gummi worms and watch your awful movie. Put your hand on their leg, put your arm around their shoulders. Anaconda will take care of the rest.

GRILLED CHEESE RESOURCES:
http://www.grilledcheeseacademy.com/
http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/Main-Dish/Sandwiches-and-Wraps/Grilled-Cheese-Sandwiches/ViewAll.aspx

Wednesday Date: Doughnut Shoppe at Grace

Grace Donuts: Made of Diamonds and Cookie Dough
Okay, for an exorbitant amount every Wednesday you can head over to Grace and grab a dozen of the best doughnuts apparently anyone has ever had. I'm talking chocolate chip cookie dough or butterscotch.

Krispy Kreme Donuts: Made of Hard Work and Cheap-Unnameable-ButWhoReallyCares-Ingredients
If this doesn't work for you, and it really shouldn't (cough, cough $18/dozen), I would hit up an old classic: Krispy Kreme. The Donuts are Divine. The Coffee is Decent. And you have a fabulous time without the fabulous price.

Grab a half dozen and sit on a rock somewhere and tell her how cute her butt is.

Girls love that stuff,
You're going down in History,
Kate

GRACE
323-934-4400
7360 Beverly Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036-2501

KRISPY KREME LA
4034 Crenshaw Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90008-2533
(323) 291-4133

KRISPY KREME BURBANK
1521 North Victory Place
Burbank, CA 91502
(818) 955-9015

DATE BY KATE #3: Wishing on Leonid's Falling Stars

Your Date Starts on Monday November 16 goes until the morning of November 17

WHEN CAN I SEE THE LEONID SHOWER
Monday November 16th at midnight
1230 AM-2:30 AM Pacfic Time

LEONID METEOR SHOWER
A shower of shooting stars. The shower happens each mid-November, when Earth passes through an area of space filled with debris from a comet. That debris burns up in our atmosphere, causing the “shower” of meteors. In Los Angeles you'll be able to see about one leonid every two or three minutes.

CHOOSING A LAZY STARGAZING HOTSPOT
Tough in LA because of the ambient light. A good litmus test is if you can see the little dipper where you are standing, you are in an area dark enough. We're talking beaches, tops of mountains, deserts and forests. PLEASE choose a safe destination where both you and your date can feel safe (no deserted dumps, middle of the highway romps)

HOW TO PROPERLY STARGAZE
Lying down and looking up. Lots of people use pillows and just lie there. Make lots of wishes.

PREDATE
Tell your date to dress warmly and exactly where you intend to go. You don't want to flip them out by taking them to deserted parts of the state. Also, make sure they are prepared for a night of wishes and giggly nonsense (whatever that may entail for you and your mate)

SUPPLIES
Aim for warmth: Warm jacket, Blanket/Sleeping bag
Comfort: Two pillows
Safety: Flashlight, Glowsticks
Fun: Get ready to tickle and hold tightly


YOUR DATE
9 pm

• Get your supplies together
• Think of some goofy wishes you can tell your date and can't tell your date :)
• Learn proper wish making protocol

10 pm

• Catch some late dinner
• Inform your date that the best way to watch a meteor shower is lying next to eachother and looking up

11 pm

• Dunkin Donuts: grab some hot cocoa and donuts for the road*
• Inform your date of proper making a wish on a star protocol
• Remind your date to make wishes on the shooting stars

12 am

• Arrive at your Lazy Stargazing Hotspot

12 am-2 am

• Spend the time talking about the wishes you want to make and the wishes you made as a child.
• Engage in again, whatever your definition of giggly nonsense may be.

*This is an inappropriate venue for spaghetti but do try if you insist.

How to Wish on a Star Properly

Wish Better
Now, in this day and age, many people are turning to wishing to pay bills or get to France. Well at tonight's Leonid Meteor Shower there will be plenty of shooting stars to pay your mortgage and get you closer to that Cute Blonde in your Chem Lab...If you do it properly.

There are two methods you can choose from:
The Wikihow Method and the Kate Method (i.e. The right method for making wishes)



WikiHow's Guide to Wishing on Shooting Stars.
Wikihow has created a surprisingly elaborate method of getting your wishes met, and by golly, they're free to make, so spend a buck.

1. Think of all the things that you want to wish for. Think of the things that you don't have, like a million dollars, a house, a jumbo sized vanilla shake. It could be anything!
2. Close your eyes and wish for things that you can't live without, or that you deeply want, or things that you could actually have that seem impossible to get, like a penny minted during this calendar year, a date to the prom or to find a best friend.
3. Narrow down your wishes, to be maybe just one or two special ones. Keep eliminating wishes, and find just two that are most important, and that really think could come true. You may feel that they are equally important, and if so, then wish for the both or them, or just one.
4. Look up at the sky, and look for a bright star, if you cannot find a shooting star. Close your eyes, and make your wish. To be safe, make the same wish when you go to the mall and see the water fountain. Close your eyes, make your wish and toss a penny into the water.
5. Write down your wish on paper, then tape it or rubber band it to a 1/2 dollar coin. Throw this into the nearest body of water, and wait for your wish to come true.

The Kate Method of Wishing on Stars
AKA The right way to wish on stars

1. PREGAME: Think of one thing you want a lot (a person's health, trip to some French country, a beau's return)
2. GAME ON: Spot a shooting star, or even a bright star (Twinkle Twinkle Methodology), shut your eyes and wish quietly for this thing as hard as you can.
3. POST GAME: Don't tell anyone what you wished for, it will ruin everything.

Now that you know how to wish on stars, get out there and get a date with that someone you keep wishing for!

Kate