This is the third part of a three-part Valentine’s Day menu. Get the first course here and the second course here!

Inspiration can happen at any moment. For Scott Green, Executive Pastry Chef at The Langham Hotel Chicago and one of Dessert Professional’s Top Ten Pastry Chefs of 2016, his life-changing moment of inspiration occurred back when he was a student with a scholarship to study fine arts in Chicago, while watching a pastry documentary. Shortly after, he switched from fine arts to pastry arts and never looked back.

Chef Jenny layers her ultra-rich chocolate cake — with an extra dose of delicious from the addition of espresso — with piles of velvety Nutella-mascarpone frosting and adds an exciting crunch from chopped hazelnuts. What’s more; though it looks and tastes impressive, this simple recipe requires minimal ingredients and no stand mixer or fancy tools — who needs the extra stress on the big day? Trust us: it’ll be love at first bite.

When I was the executive pastry chef at the original Rouge Tomate, my job was to incorporate more fruits and alternative grains into my baking while cutting back on the refined sugar and flours. I saw this directive as a positive challenge — one in which I could expand both my knowledge of ingredients and also my palette.

What drives you? How do you reach people? When you make your mark on the world, what will it look like? What's your culinary voice? With the 2017 #CulinaryVoice Scholarship Challenge in full swing, we turned to the judges, ICE's industry-leading chefs and instructors, and posed them that same question.

This is the second part of a three-part Valentine's Day menu. Get the first dish here!

If recipes are like the Oscars, oils generally fall into the category of Best Supporting Actor — but not anymore. In a new video from the Institute of Culinary Education and Direct Eats, ICE Chef Robert Ramsey shares three recipes that highlight the unique flavors of three tasty cooking oils — Smoked Olive Oil Carbonara with homemade Pasta All' Uovo; Roasted Beets with Bitter Greens, Walnut Oil Emulsion, Blue Cheese and Walnut Oil Powder; and Tigernut Oil Ice Cream With Roasted Apples, Rolled Oat Crumble and Honey Tigernut Oil. Watch the video, then scroll down to get the recipes to let those oils shine.

This Valentine’s Day, skip the reservations race and treat your special someone to a decadent homemade meal. To help you conquer the most important step — menu planning — ICE Chef Robert Ramsey came up with the perfect, balanced, veggie-forward three-course meal, beginning with a winter citrus salad, followed by fig and ricotta toasts and ending with a rich truffle mushroom tart. The only things missing are a bottle of wine and a good playlist.

There’s always something new to learn — that is my usual response when people ask me what I like most about being a chef. I could spend the rest of my life in the kitchens here at ICE and learn something new everyday, continuing to better understand the ingredients I use on a daily basis. Sometimes, however, you’ve got to get away to gain new culinary perspectives.