Date Nights: Exploring the letter V in KC

For a “v”ery special date this month, why not try one of the following?

Volunteer

In my opinion, one of the best things you and your significant other can do together is give back and help those who are less fortunate. It allows for a different kind of bonding than your traditional date because you are doing something to help others instead of doing something to help yourselves. My husband and I definitely love to volunteer together. We have given our time to Harvesters on a number of occasions. We have sorted frozen food and put potatoes into bags. We have also sorted out food from the food bins that you sometimes see at grocery stores. Our favorite job, though, has been to help fill backpacks for kids for the BackSnack program. Two other volunteer opportunities we have really enjoyed have been to prepare and serve dinner at Shelter KC and prepare and serve breakfast to the families staying at one of the Ronald McDonald Houses while their child/sibling is undergoing care at Children’s Mercy Hospital. Such rewarding experiences!

V’s Italiano Ristorante

Kansas City suffers no shortage of good Italian food restaurants, and one of our favorites is V’s Italiano Ristorante in Independence. For almost 60 years, the Totta family has been sharing their beloved family recipes, coupled with exceptional service. We have eaten there on a number of occasions. Most recently, we tried out their Sunday morning champagne brunch, which is served from 10:00 to 2:00. Their buffet features traditional breakfast items, lunch items such as pasta and salmon, carved meats, burnt ends, fresh fruit and desserts. Plus, you get a choice of endless fruit juice, champagne or mimosas! V’s also has happy hour daily until 7:00 in the cocktail lounge, which is definitely fun for a date night. And when you go to V’s for dinner, you will be served a complimentary rum cake at the end of your meal. It is delicious, as is all their food!

Valkyrie

I first saw the movie Valkyrie on a plane ride home from Paris in 2009. It seemed like a good way to pass the time, and it most certainly was. I am not a big Tom Cruise fan, but I thought the movie was excellent. So recently, my husband and I had an opportunity to watch it since he had never seen it. The film is about Nazi Germany during World War II and the July 20, 1944, attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and take control of the country. Cruise does a remarkable job playing Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg and is one of the key players in the political coup plot. If you like history at all, you will like this movie—I highly recommend! And the timing of my hubby and I watching it together couldn’t be better, considering that Union Station now has the Auschwitz exhibit, with more than 700 original objects and 400 pictures depicting its role in the Holocaust.

Hannah Berry is a freelance writer who lives with her husband in Kansas City. They enjoy regular date nights and love trying new restaurants and activities.