Guest Post: Allie from Allie’s Everyday Adventures

I was so pleasantly surprised to see that I had inspired this post from Allie of Allie’s Everyday Adventures! I love that Top Chef has prompted them to create fancy plated dinners for themselves! We often find that making food LOOK good makes it taste all that much better

I loved Mandy’s post from a few weeks ago on TV inspiring conversation between yourself and your spouse. Like her and her husband, my husband and I often spend our evenings watching TV together.

Growing up, I never watched much TV. My parents watched The Tonight Show With Jay Leno almost every night, and that was about the extent of our boob tube time. When I went off to college, I got cable for the first time and went a little nuts. I got crazy addicted to trashy dating shows. (Yeah, I watched all three seasons of Rock of Love, what upppp.)

Matt’s family on the other hand, watched TV more often, but were picky about what they watched. They had been big fans of Top Chef for years. I never thought I’d be interested in watching it. I mean, why watch other people cook food when I’m not going to be making it myself? Boooooring.

Oh how I’m eating my words now. Matt continued to watch Top Chef, and I slowly got sucked in. It doesn’t even matter that we’re not going to create the recipes we see on there. We get to drool over supremely fancy food — and desserts! Top Chef Just
Desserts is dangerous! — while laughing about the contestants’ ridiculous complaints and backstabbery. (Also, did you know that Padma Lakshmi was once in an episode of Star Trek? True story. So Matt can’t watch a single episode without laughing about that.)

Not only does watching this show give us time to bond, but it has helped us create our own little dinner traditions. If we’re cooking something nice (or yummy-looking), we try to plate our food Top Chef-style so it looks pretty. Because pretty = better tasting.

Barbecued burgers with sweet potato fries and three kinds of salad

Beef crostini with balsamic drizzle and parmesan chips — probably the fanciest meal I’ve ever made.

Clearly we’re experts at this.

A little friendly competition never hurts either. That’s why, for every reality competition we watch, we have to individually predict who is going to win within the first five minutes. (Orlando is going to win this season of Just Desserts. Not Chris. Definitely not Chris. Just sayin’.

But in all seriousness, our TV habits have allowed us to discuss things like how we would address tasks as a team, how we would handle tough situations and just generally learn more about each other. Because no matter how long you’ve been with your partner, there are always new things to discover.

Has a TV show created any new traditions or bonding ideas for you and your significant other?