Date Night at Home

In the fall of 2014, we started a tradition: A weekly date night at home. It started out of necessity for our budget and quickly became something we look forward to every Saturday night.

I chose the recipe for the perfect pasta with creamy mushroom sauce before our very first at-home date night because it was simple, fairly inexpensive, and a meal we'd still crave week after week. That's right, we make the same meal every time, which keeps it low-stress. (Pro tip: Double everything and have more leftovers to make the rest of your weekend easier.) My husband, Juan, is always the cook for this meal, which somehow makes it extra special for both of us. He even likes to tell me to get out of "his" kitchen. :) While he cooks, I set the table properly with cloth napkins, candles, and a decent-yet-cheap bottle of red wine. Juan turns on our dinner party playlist at the last minute because I always forget. The music is key - it sets the mood for us to relax longer at the table and helps us remember what life was like pre-baby, with long, leisurely dinners and drinks. (Think: David Bowie, Peter Björn and John, Elliott Smith, Cut/Copy, Simon & Garfunkel.)

Luisa, our baby, does eat with us, but we make an effort to talk to each other - really talk. Once Juan even pulled up a list of 36 questions to fall in love, which is intended for new couples, but helped steer us away from all the mundane things that take over married conversations so easily. Now that Luisa is older (gulp, 21 months), we might start having our date night dinner after she goes to bed to maintain the date-night vibes.

I highly recommend starting your own date night tradition. It's such a nice way to reconnect after a crazy week. (Isn't it always a crazy week? :)

(Photo via Refinery29)