Ready to wine and dine? Listen up.

So you've landed a date. Congratulations. Now, you have a few options: You can take your date out to a restaurant, or you can plan to make a romantic dinner yourself.

If you choose the former, you have a 24-page dining guide right here to help you out. In terms of the latter, read on.

The first important part of preparing a romantic dinner is establishing ambiance. You'll probably want a quiet setting. This does not necessarily mean your room/apartment. If the weather is nice, try a picnic somewhere. If you decide to go with home, ask the room/housemates to become discreet. By doing so, you raise the likelihood that your date will be focusing on you.

If your date is coming over, clean. Even if it's not actually "clean" when you're done, he/she hopefully will notice the effort and be impressed.

While candles, soft lighting and a white tablecloth are traditional, they're not necessary and may be impractical in a dorm room. Gauge your date: Will he/she appreciate the effort, or will he/she consider you cheesy?

As "romantic dinner" implies, there is food involved. Be creative. Would your date have fun if he/she were helping you prepare dinner? Maybe. It depends on your date and what you're making. If you're a pretty good cook and you're making something unusual or ethnic, it might be fun to work together. Keep it in mind as a possibility.

Or, you could prepare everything before your date arrives. Plan the menu in accordance with your budget and time. If you bake, you can make a dessert a day or two in advance. You'll want to make sure finish everything in time for dinner, but keep in mind some dishes start tasting funny if they've been sitting around for a while.

Your cooking doesn't have to be elaborate. If you're confident with your skills, by all means go all-out, but if you're a novice, even spaghetti can be romantic when served properly.

Pay attention to the little things. Spaghetti, for instance, can be dressed up with a salad appetizer, freshly grated cheese and/or a parsley garnish. Store-bought cookies become much fancier if you arrange them on a plate.

However you go about preparing dinner, the most important thing is that your date can tell you've put thought and effort into it. Putting thought and effort into something for your date equates putting thought and effort into your date, and nothing is more flattering.

So even if dinner is horribly burned, your date will probably forgive you, so long as it looks like you were trying. Write it off as a bonding experience and order Chinese.

Oh, and good luck.