Writer's Block: Passionate Eats
I'm not entirely sure why this question inspired this response. I wasn't even feeling particularly creative at the time. But that was the question, and, well, this is the answer. It is unedited, so apologies for any horrendous spelling/grammar mistakes.
I guess it's not the answer to the question, since the question is asking what foods I associate with romance or attraction, and nowhere in this... thing do I answer that. But let me post it first.
Margaret sat with her legs tucked under her chair, leaning her elbows on the table, her head resting on her clasped hands. Her mother had always chastised her for putting her elbows on the table, but tonight she couldn't be bothered to care, even here, in the fanciest restaraunt in town. She looked up through her lashes at Jean Claude, who met her light blue eyes with his deep brown ones, and raised an eyebrow suavely. What a man, she thought to herself. If only Victoria and Yukiko could see her now.
Magraret twirled a blonde curl around her finger and stared dreamily at the man across the table, who was now carefully pouring them both a glass of champagne.
His eyes met hers again and he raised his glass in a silent tost. She followed suit, and smiled at the mixture of good champagne and good company. "So what's the occasion, Jean Claude?" she asked coquettishly.
Her date reached across the table and gently took her hand. "There's no occasion," he said softly, "except that you're beautiful, and I want to make this night very special for you."
Margaret felt her heart beating faster. "You're so sweet," she sighed.
"I'm very much in love," he replied, and kissed her hand.
"Just for you," he continued, "I have ordered that the head chef create a special dish just for the two of us."
"Jean Claude, you didn't," Margaret gasped, thrilling at the thought of all the trouble and expense this man had gone to to make this night as special as he could.
"Tonight is the night for you to feel like a princess," Jean Claude told her, holding her hand in both of his. "Your happiness is all that matters. I dreamt up this dish and gave orders to the restaraunt ahead of time to prepare it especially for us, to surprise you. It is a testament to my eternal love for you, my dearest Margaret. Nothing is too much to give."
Margaret felt her cheeks flush, and a smile stole onto her face as she lowered her eyes. Jean Claude was the perfect man, and she had already started thinking of names for their children in the privacy of her head. And to think that they had not even known each other for two months, and already there was so much chemistry between them! as though they were meant to be, from the beginning.
She had been in the grocery store, next to a display of cabbages, when a large woman in a floral dress barged into her on her way to berate a stockboy about his negligence in his arrangement of the cereal boxes in aisle six. Her elbow had knocked into Margaret, and in her attempt to keep her balance she dropped the asparagus she had been carrying and bumped several cabbages from the display onto the floor. Humiliated, she had bent to pick it up when a deep masculine voice had murmured, "Allow me." She had looked up into the deepest, most intriguing brown eyes she had ever seen. Since that day, Jean Claude was all she could think about, and she couldn't imagine being happier.
Margaret's train of thought was disrupted by their waiter, who had arrived bearing a large silver platter. Jean Claude got up and walked around behind Margaret, putting his hands on her shoulders and murmuring into her ear. "You recall how we first met?" he inquired.
Margaret nodded, too captivated by the romance of the scene to speak aloud.
"It is in honor of that meeting that I thought of this," Jean Claude declared, motioning for the waiter to place the platter on the table and depart. With no little amount of ceremony, he placed a hand on the silver cover of the platter. "This, my dearest, is for you." In one swift motion, he whipped off the lid.
Margaret stared. "Jean Claude," she said, feeling a bit faint, "Is that..."
"Yes, darling," Jean Claude whispered to her. "It was cabbage that brought us together, and it is with cabbage--a dish made entirely with steamed cabbage--that we will celebrate that meeting." He returned to his seat and smiled knowingly at her. "Are you surprised?"
Margaret could say nothing. She could only stare at the platter as a host of flies which had somehow slipped into the restaraunt congregated on the mound of steamed cabbage like moths to a flame.
As an actual answer to the question? I would have to say strawberries. I have no idea why. Maybe because they're just so damn yummy. I know I'd go out with any guy offering me strawberries... Mmmmm, strawberries... *cough cough* kidding, kidding. (sort of).
So, just as a random update portion of this post, I got that amazing Terry Pratchett quotes book! It's really lovely; I can't wait to go through the whole thing cover to cover and then annoy all my friends by quoting from it ruthlessly. I also found in the library a Sherlock Holmes dictionary. It pretty much defines all the terms found in the canon, including terms that have become hopelessly outdated, people Holmes has helped or defeated, and just whatever. It hadn't been touched in years, which is a pity, because I'm the one who found it and I'm one of the few Americans that really doesn't need it, while my friend who tried to read Sherlock Holmes claimed she hated not knowing what half the terms meant. I think she just hated that the only copy I could loan her was enormous.
And I'm finally going to get a good copy of Good Omens. It's probably going to have to be a bit expensive because I'm determined not to get one of those stupid American copies that has all the typos. But it'll be well worth it. Come to think of it, my current copy of GO still hasn't come home yet... That's what comes of loaning out your books, you don't get them back. I am also still working on a GO fic that I tried to write a while ago. I failed, but I just pulled it out again and it might do OK for a one-shot. I'll have it done by the end of the week if possible, but if I get fed up with it again I'll just shove it away somewhere and try to find inspiration for a Doubting and Blessings sequel.