The food love

I’ve always been an incurable romantic, students tease me about the number of times I use a heart-shaped cutter to decorate pies and tarts.

I make heart-shaped biscuits, pretty little heart-shaped Coeur à la crème, and scatter heart-shaped croutons over soup, a teeny bit obsessive, not to mention unsubtle, but fun and great for a giggle.

Well, with Valentine's Day coming up we can legitimately indulge our romantic side and go seriously over the top. Let's start at the beginning, get out the coloured pens and paper and make a heart-shaped invitation. Keep it light-hearted and fun you mustn't pretend you are too serious, might scare him away even before you get him to the table. And yes, the invite is for dinner remember, the way to every chap's heart and all that. It's worth a try anyway.