■CHEF'S CORNER Valentine’s Day. No matter how you truly feel about it, if you love it or hate it, we all have to deal with it once a year. All my single people out there, and all my hitched friends, I have some exciting flavors, aromas and food ideas to maximize temptation, attraction and sexiness year-round. I did a little research and found that it’s not chocolate or oysters and champagne that work the best. Instead, here are five really surprising foods that can help spark romance in both men and women. Maybe some of these will create a little magic for you this Valentine’s Day. 1. Sexy scents: If you are setting the mood at home, try roasting a pumpkin with some lavender seeds, or brew a vanilla bean and mint tea and let it fill the air. The smell of sweetness and comfort is stimulating and evokes feelings of attraction. 2. Spicy foods: Hot peppers have a molecule called capsaicin that helps the body release endorphins that can feel like sex. Basically if you’re with a partner and you eat spicy foods, you start feeling hot! If you can’t really handle hot foods, I suggest incorporating it in small amounts with other “sexy” foods like a chocolate bar with pepper flakes, or hot cocoa with a dash of cayenne, or in a lobster bisque with a couple slices of fresh jalapeno. 3. Celery in your Bloody Mary? Yes, please! Fresh celery stalks contain the pheromones up androstenone and androstenol. When men eat celery these specific odor molecules turn them on, this means the body starts sending off other pheromones that act to attract potential mates. Interesting fact to ponder next time you’re at brunch. Dress a beautiful fluke or scallop ceviche with freshly sliced celery. It’s beautiful, elegant and potentially sexy. Add finely chopped celery to a ginger and apple slaw, and it makes a perfect side for a meaty steak. 4. Ginger, not just for your sick stomach anymore: Consuming ginger increases blood flow to where you need it most to help boost your sex drive. Try adding freshly grated ginger to a cocktail, or roasting a piece of fish with fresh sliced ginger root. 5. Eggs for dinner: Yolks contain vitamins and amino acids that create serotonin, which makes you feel happy, which leads to a healthy libido. You might not consider the egg a sexy food, but try dressing a pasta dish with a raw egg yolk on top, shave some parmesan cheese over it, some truffles or truffle oil, and you’ve got sexy indulgence on a plate. Chef Natasha Pogrebinsky Executive Chef and Owner of Bear Restaurant 12-14 31st Ave., LIC www.bearnyc.com www.ChefNatasha.com CHEF NATASHA POGREBINSKY Cooking romance Photos courtesy of BearNYC.com
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