One woman's menu for marital bliss.

On a visit to Paris just a few months into our courtship, at a no-name corner bistro, my husband, Carroll, and I fell in love with pleasantly bitter frisée salads topped with lardons, those bits of bacon fried to an exquisite crispness. Now, almost 10 years later, we eat that salad every Valentine's Day in memory of our first romantic vacation. I also roast a succulent veal loin and serve it with a simple pan sauce, another of Carroll's favorite dishes. For dessert, I whip up espresso-chocolate pudding--a flavor combination neither of us can resist.

Published February 1998