An easy, elegant menu lets you kindle romance by firing up the stove.

Janet Marie Livingston was looking for a cookie recipe that her late grandmother always made at Christmas. She described them as looking like little doilies and knew they contained oatmeal. Sometimes her gran dipped them in chocolate.

Atelier Monnier French Bakery is a one-stop Pinecrest shop for Valentine sweets, chocolates and wines. The sleek space has glass cases filled with patisserie plus sandwiches on fresh-baked breads or croissants and quiche by the slice.

Cupid’s holiday has always been a day of wine and roses. I can’t help you with the flowers, but some wines are better suited to Valentine’s Day than others.

An easy, elegant menu lets you kindle romance by firing up the stove.

You can follow a recipe to the letter, but you don’t really begin to cook until you learn to play with your food. To be precise, learn to play with a few key ingredients and cooking techniques to boost the flavor of a dish, moving it from boring to beautiful.

Brooke Siem and Leslie Feinberg were just two 20-something victims of the recession when they starting hitting the bottle to make a living.

It’s Valentine’s Day again, and I just want to remind people there are alternatives to chocolate when it comes to showing your love.

A photo gallery

Give your game-day buffet a Mexican accent with recipes from the Cantina Beach chef

Onion soups traditionally are served topped with a thick slice of French bread and a generous blanket of melted cheese, which often overwhelms the soup’s flavor. Serve each bowl of our Sweet Onion and Beer Soup with a lightly toasted slice of bread topped with melted Cheddar.

Have you ever been to a party where dips weren’t served? Me, neither. They’re mainstays at gatherings, and they’ve come a long way from the days of sour cream mixed with packaged soup or salad dressing mixes.

Mushrooms are high on a list of things to watch in the food and beverage world for 2012. An annual trend-spotting report by JWT, a worldwide marketing communications company, pegged mushrooms as a top functional food.

Marc De Kuyper, 11th generation of the Dutch family that produces a rainbow of popular hard-partying liqueurs, didn’t exactly have a free ride into the business. He had to get the right degrees and succeed at several other jobs first. Finally, with an impressive resume in hand, he had to go through a series of formal interviews, business exams and psychological and IQ testing at De Kuyper Royal Distillers, which was founded in 1695 and has always been run by the family.

Wow. The street price for a ticket to Super Bowl XLV is reportedly $2,000 and up. Way up. And an RV parking space for tailgating at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, where the average February high is 40 degrees, is $900.

Ask any good cook: When you make a complex dish such as curry chicken, you’re blending a dozen or more flavors — cardamom, turmeric, cumin, chilies, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, coriander, mustard, garlic, fennel, black pepper and others. Oh, and chicken.

Snow and cold weather blanket the Midwest and Northeast, and Miami is having its version of a cold snap, with daily highs barely in the mid-70s. It’s time for comfort foods – beef stews, macaroni and cheese, tuna casserole, chili.

It used to be that when winemakers blended two or more grapes into a wine, it was so the strengths of one could make up for the weaknesses of the others. France’s Bordeaux red had cabernet sauvignon for flavor and structure, malbec for its inky color, merlot for sweet and fleshy fruit.

It’s not easy being Alessio Planeta, traveling the world to sell the wines of his native Sicily.

It’s been a fabulous year for wine. Fans of the grape, whether Tea Party types or Occupy Wall Streeters, revolted and demanded cheaper wines. Sellers cut $90 wines to $50.

Beer for the holidays? Why not? It’s certainly in the right spirit. Kindly old Ben Franklin once said: “Beer is living proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.”

Wines and beers with South Florida ties make gifts in good taste

As New Year’s Eve approaches, the question arises: Where do the bubbles in bubbly come from?

This easy one-pot chili is perfect for a couple or a crowd on Super Bowl Sunday. Chili is always a family pleaser. Using chicken and mushrooms gives a light, tasty result. All of the ingredients cook in a large skillet. It’s a meal on its own, or serve quick-cooking rice and a ready-to-eat salad on the side.

Garlic, sherry and hoisin sauce flavor chicken in this quick Chinese stir-fry. Thoughts of the start of the Chinese New Year next week inspired this quick and easy stir-fry dinner.

This thick and hearty soup made with ham, lentils, and tomatoes takes only 30 minutes to make and is a great way to brighten up a winter evening. It’s a whole meal in one bowl.

Though she is often cooking for one these days, Alicia still like to cook in big batches to freeze. Not only does she have her dinner with most of the work done, but she has food to share.

A Neapolitan pizza-style sauce over tender, juicy pork makes a quick and simple dinner. The combination of tomato, olive and garlic on the pork pairs beautifully with the earthiness of the beans and the bite of peppery arugula in the White Bean Salad.

Batch-cooking meat speeds dinner to the table faster than you can call for takeout, and it’s so much healthier. Today’s Italian Stewed Beef is a slow-cooked wonder that can simmer on your countertop all day.

Now that Thanksgiving is over and we are heading into the biggest gift-giving season of the year, we want to share a treat that is as wonderful to distribute as it is to keep and enjoy at home.

Today’s offering, part of our “foods to be thankful for” series, is a hearty bean stew with the spicy flavors of hot Italian sausage and piquant fennel.

Flank steak isn’t considered as elegant a cut as filet mignon or New York strip, but it makes up for it with big flavor and versatility.

Janet Marie Livingston was looking for a cookie recipe that her late grandmother always made at Christmas. She described them as looking like little doilies and knew they contained oatmeal. Sometimes her gran dipped them in chocolate.

Atelier Monnier French Bakery is a one-stop Pinecrest shop for Valentine sweets, chocolates and wines. The sleek space has glass cases filled with patisserie plus sandwiches on fresh-baked breads or croissants and quiche by the slice.

Alma Mexicana (Soul of Mexico) is hidden in plain view on Washington Avenue, its sign obscured by palm fronds. But those in the know are keeping this fast-casual spot busy serving home-style fare beneath the gaze of a Frida Kahlo-like beauty whose photos adorn the walls.

Get thin-crust New York-style pizza with gourmet toppings at I Love Pizza with two hip locations on Miami Beach. The pies, named after places in New York City, are one size only (16 inches) but can be ordered by the slice. There’s the Queens (no tomato sauce, mozzarella and ricotta), Little Italy (with Genoa salami, peppers and onions) and the Bronx (marinara sauce, garlic and oregano with no cheese).

Cupcakes capped with swirls of French buttercream lightened with egg whites sit beneath glass domes on a counter that also displays house-made granola, cookies and crackers at Bryan in the Kitchen, a bakery-cafe with a gourmet touch in downtown Miami.

Limon y Sabor Peruvian Seafood is a no-frills fonda (neighborhood eating joint) filled with Peruvian families. The name means “lemon and flavor,” although in Spanish limon can also mean lime, and both citrus are used here. Most of the tables are in front, but there is a communal table in back near a small lounge with a wall-size poster of Machu Pichu.

Gaysha New World Sushi Bar is open for dinner only in gay-friendly Wilton Manors, serving dishes made with seafood and organic produce selected by chef-owner Takeshi Kamioka.

Road construction has finally ended on the stretch of Northeast Second Avenue that runs past the Little Haiti Community Garden. Tucked behind a fence at the northwest corner of 58th Street, the 1/3-acre plot is planted with produce to support the local food network and encourage healthy eating in the neighborhood.

Celebrate the Christmas season Portuguese-style

It’s a month into the new year, that critical time when many of us abandon our freshly made resolutions. So let’s toast to sticking to them, and for a healthier you, toast with plant-based milk.

Here’s hoping 2012 turns out to be seedy. In a good way. Seeds are super-concentrated sources of nourishment, so eat more in the new year, especially your seed superstars, hemp, flax and chia.

As we settle down to enjoy a sumptuous Thanksgiving meal, let’s do what we’re supposed to do in the first place — give thanks. So, a rousing round of applause, please, for our local farmers who grew the bounty of food on the table.

Just what Miami needs: another burger place. But why not? You can never have too much of a tasty thing, even if you’d get in trouble with Mom for saying its name. Damn Good Burger (DGB for short and sweet) is the latest entry into the ground beef fray and, like most places, is trying to keep ahead of the competition.

Whether you’re dining in, eating out or taking out, we’ve got you covered for Valentine’s Day

<span class="bold">The goods:</span> Expect over-the-top parties and high-rolling meals at the Delano’s new restaurant, Bianca, managed by Las Vegas’ Light Group.

I am afraid that Havana 1957 is best known for its overpriced mojitos and sunburned tourists. If you want to stay on South Beach, you can go classic grunge with the iconic <span class="bold">Puerto Sagua</span> (700 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; 305-673-1115) or, a few blocks away, the recently renovated <span class="bold">David’s Cafe</span> (1058 Collins Ave.; 305-534-8736, www.davidscafe.com), which also has a location just off Lincoln Road. Either would work for affordable, authentic and delicious Cuban basics. My favorite dish is rope vieja (“old clothes”), a great shredded beef stew. Both have beer and wine and menus in English.

Give your game-day buffet a Mexican accent with recipes from the Cantina Beach chef

The first Shula Burger opens in the Keys, making the legendary Miami Dolphins coach’s empire even meatier

<span class="bold">The goods:</span> The revamped Surfcomber Hotel channels Southeast Asia with Lantao Kitchen + Cocktails, a stylish noodles and ribs joint named for an island in Hong Kong.

<span class="bold">Jean-Georges Vongerichten </span>has arrived in the Magic City. The acclaimed French chef delivers a “comfortable yet elegant hideaway” to the sparkling new <span class="bold">St. Regis Bal Harbour</span>, 9703 Collins Ave. <span class="bold">J&G Grill </span>promises a “curated selection” of Vongerichten’s greatest appetizers, sides and accompaniments paired with high-quality meats and seafood. Sweeping floor-to-ceiling windows and a muted zen vibe pair with a menu blending American, French and Asian influences. Look for cucumber martinis, Florida hearts of palm salad, Peekytoe crab cake, black truffle pizzas, roasted grouper, grilled veal chop, black truffle cheese fritters and kumquat mojitos. This is Jean-Georges’ second J&G Grill, following a 2009 opening in Park City, Utah.

Leave it to a country suffering from massive debt to give us a restaurant that understands our household austerity budgets.

Cupcakes capped with swirls of French buttercream lightened with egg whites sit beneath glass domes on a counter that also displays house-made granola, cookies and crackers at Bryan in the Kitchen, a bakery-cafe with a gourmet touch in downtown Miami.

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