Date Night In is the new Anniversary Splurge

The first time it was suggested to me to hire a personal chef for a date night in, my initial reaction was something alone the lines of “Right; cause I’m just made of money..!” and I didn’t give it a second thought. The thing is, now that I have experienced it first hand, it was one of the best date-night experiences I have had in a long time! Let me tell you why.

My new reality of date night

Since changing my lifestyle to the ketogenic way of eating (low carb, high fat), eating out is more trouble than its worth. I have to call in advance to make reservations and special order my meal, so there is no room for cancelling or spontaneity, IF they even agree to make me something keto-friendly. There are a few places in Ottawa that will do it, but most don’t because they don’t understand or don’t care to.

Thus, in comes the dilemma of date-night. Ugh. My heart sinks every time, and that’s terrible because I should be super excited for a night out on the town with my fiancé.

Triple the events, triple the expense — or get shafted

Our anniversary, his birthday, and Valentine’s Day are all within 10 calendar days in our household so we tend not to celebrate all of them and just go out for dinner once.
We happened to be out at our wedding food tasting on our anniversary (oh the luck!), so we didn’t go out for that and simply made dinner and home with a fancy table setting. Don’t get me wrong, the dancing, the meal, and the atmosphere were super romantic and cute, but it didn’t exactly scream “anniversary”.
For his birthday, we went to a Japanese restaurant with his mom and brothers, so I am very glad that he got his special day.
For Valentine’s Day, it was another night in, we even splurged on flowers, and setup our dinner in front of a romantic movie. Again, cute, but nothing super special or out of the ordinary. I must be spoiled!

Save money by hiring a personal chef for date night

Since we are technically saving up for the wedding, we also didn’t want to spend a fortune on each of those nights and end up with a huge bill and only a mediocre meal experience to show for it. We did some extensive research, called a few dozen restaurants, and none had a menu that could accommodate my dietary needs. So we decided to go ahead and talk to a personal chef and see what we could afford. I was flabbergasted. The price was a mere fraction of what I was expecting. On top of the fact that it meant I could enjoy my wine without the worry of paying for a cab home and save money, I could even have dessert. DESSERT! Ahhh-mazing! Also, as she left our home, she bid us farewell with a smile, and that our dessert was plated and ready for us, that the dishes were done, and that leftovers were put away in tupperware for us. Umm, leftovers!? Hello! That means we each got 2 meals out of this amazingness. Fantastic! And they weren’t the measly restaurant portions either; they were regular person portions.

The ‘low-down’ of hiring a personal chef for date night

Including the food, the bottle of wine, and the service, our adventure was under $200. And whatever she didn’t use, got put back into the fridge or cupboard for us. So, two three-course meals each (4 total), a full bottle of wine, catered service, no cab-fare or going out into the cold weather, no fuss over the menu, and getting to keep the un-used prep foods, for basically the same price as going out. Yes please!

This is certainly not the last time we will be taking advantage of this amazing service available! If you are in the Ottawa area, you absolutely must look up MMMchef and hire Daniela. She is fabulous, and catered to my every need like a champ! Yes, every single one. She made several revisions to the special menu for me, she took our cutesy pictures during our diner, she offered to set up a fancy table-setting for us, she did the dishes and put back pretty much everything where the came from, and she made the awesome dessert I had planned as a surprise for my fiancé. Heck, she even offered to give us the recipes if we wanted! And I am definitely going to take her up on it for that delicious dressing!

Happy Date Night! No matter where you decide to have it.

Our Custom Keto Menu

BUTTERNUT SQUASH SOUP
with garlic zucchini crisps

SALMON BLT STACK
bed of arugula with sliced tomatoes avocado, crispy pancetta rounds, and lemon aioli
served with herbs & butter crsipini

LEMON SQUARES
served with raspberries

_{[paired with a Sauvignon Blanc, light white wine]}

bon apetit!