2. SET THE MOOD

This is the "PICK UP YOUR DIRTY SOCKS!" section. Yes, you should do that. Throw away that beloved pile of empty pizza boxes and clean any room you think your dinner guest might visit during the evening (night, next morning). Once you've got this done, and all your ingredients gathered, there are only two other things to worry about:

The table
The scent

The table

Again, we don't expect your table to end up in "Better Homes and Gardens." This night is about good food and good company, but there are two important things to remember about your table.

One word - candlelight. Maybe some people find the fluorescent tubing at fast-food joints conducive to seduction, but most of us normal folk prefer a dim, camouflaging candlelight. Make sure you choose high candlesticks so that both you and your dinner partner are lit from above. You can get some pretty scary results from short candles beaming onto the underside of your eyeballs. This is effective if you plan to tell ghost stories all evening, but otherwise not recommended.

As for decoration, you can plan ahead and decorate your table with flowers, or expect your date to bring some. Either way, don't ruin your view of each other by plunking a huge funeral wreath down in the middle of the table. Set the flowers off to the side where you can appreciate both them and your date. Roses are considered the most romantic of flowers, but make sure you know what you're saying with them. Most novice romantics know that red roses mean love, while white mean friendship, but flower connoisseurs assign even deeper meaning to flowers. A deep red rose can mean "bashful shame" whereas a burgundy rose can signify "unconscious beauty." Quite nerve-wracking for someone racing to the florist's shop at the last minute. If you are worried about offending your date with some unknown flower insult, check out this lovely flower web page for a description of the meaning of certain flowers. At the very least, you will find fodder for more mindless chatter in case conversation stalls.

The scent

Shaik Al-Nefzawi, author of The Perfumed Garden (Tunisia's own "Kama Sutra") offers this advice about scenting a room:

"When she inhales the perfumes· all her bones will be relaxed in a soft repose and finally she will be swooning. When you see her thus far gone, ask her to grant you her favours; she will not hesitate to accord them."

Whoo-hoo! Now you can see the importance of aromatherapy at your meal. When your beloved enters the place, he/she will be overwhelmed with the wonderful scents coming from your kitchen. After the meal, though, you might want to change the tone from eating to, well, another activity of your choice. An excellent way to do this is through scent. Some scents that have arousing effects are vanilla, lavender, jasmine, mandarin and rosewood. Hey, don't take it from us. Dr. Alan Hirsch, director of Chicago's Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation found that certain scents caused an increase in penile blood flow! There's a reason to pick up some potpourri or scented candles!