Seduction Do's and Don'ts

Stay away from casseroles

Career girls and hot-plate cooks had better stay away from a few of the cliche meals that men detest. The classic in this department is sherry-sauteed chicken livers (frozen) on buttered Minute Rice with a salad of French-cut string beans (frozen) in a bottled French dressing. Frozen strawberries on vanilla ice cream with ladyfingers are the standard dessert, and in cases like this the wine is always rose... Beware of all casserole concoctions containing some kind of chopped meat, a canned cream soup and a mashed-potato-cheese topping. (I think lady fingers are what the Brits call "petit fours".)

It is better, simpler and cheaper to give him a big bowl of fettucine, stirred up with butter, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and cracked black pepper; or a plateful of scrambled eggs, four slices of crisp bacon and toast; or a large pan-grilled hamburger on a hot roll spread with herb-garlic butter.

Intensive (5 minutes) research on Flickr reveals that what Americans call a casserole is what Brits call a "bake" or even a "loaf" – they look quite thick and hearty, something you cut in slices rather than spoon into a soup bowl. Nothing wrong with that!