A plague of chocolate frogs: Horror movie and treat pairings for Valentine's Day
Steve Salt
Gail Ambrosius' amphibious aphrodisiacs.
No related
The lucky few with fat wallets can always buy expensive minks, diamonds, or a Jaguar to please Valentine, the patron saint of romance. But the rest of us need to combine thrift with creativity every year to reassure our significant other that all is well in the house of love. The A.V. Club proposes coupling a high-end treat to sweeten your honey up with a scary movie to inspire personal proximity, and finds that we can do it with less than 20 bucks.
The treat: Gold Reserve Limited Edition strawberries from Brennan's (5533 University Ave., 608-233-2777; 8120 Watts Rd., 608-833-2893). Strawberries are delicious, healthy, and seriously seductive in the eating—what's more tantalizing than luscious lips closing over that firm red fruit?
Proximity-inspiring film pairing: The semi-obscure Strawberry Estates (2004) follows a querulous videographer and his cohorts as they investigate a decrepit, abandoned insane asylum with a grisly history. Plenty of "gotcha!" moments mean plenty excuses to grab your date in played-up (or even real) fright.
The treat: David Bacco’s Solar Plexus Chakra Bars. Lemon zest, rosemary, ginger, dried pineapple, and banana blended with chocolate from Venezuela will wake up every extremity.
Proximity-inspiring film pairing: The 1978 Philip Kaufman remake of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers is set in San Francisco and filled with New Age psychobabble courtesy of Leonard Nimoy, who thinks everyone just needs to align their chakras and get in touch with their inner emotional core. It's the era of I'm OK—You're OK in full swing. Guess what? No one is okay. They’re far from okay. They’re a bunch of goddamned pod people.
The treat: Gail Ambrosius Tree Frogs. Handmade dark chocolate (reputedly an aphrodisiac) is poured into molds resembling small frogs, and then filled with a creamy vanilla ganache.
Proximity-inspiring film pairing: The environmental outrage of the early '70s manifests as rampaging animals in 1972's Frogs. Swarms of frogs and other, more threatening reptiles and amphibians prove to be a lot scarier than one might imagine. A parade of '70s outfits alternately provides comic relief and real sex appeal.
