Wire Food & Wine

This is a cake for those who care enough to fuss.

"The Newlywed Cookbook"

Food and romance are as much a part of Valentine's Day as chocolates, red roses and sweet whispers. And nowhere does that pair play out more than in the kitchen.

It's the right time of year for baking whoopie.

Many men find out the hard way that the most romantic dinner they will have all year long will take place on Feb. 15, not Feb. 14.

We're all for parenting advice that extols the virtues of less work. Which is why we love the idea of handing off meal prep to the kids.

What it is:

Queen Elizabeth II marked 60 years on her throne on Feb. 6. Loyal subjects around the world will be raising a glass to toast Britain's second-longest reigning monarch as she and the royal family kick off a year of celebration in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, her other realms and territories, and various Commonwealth countries.

Coming home from vacation with memories of some of the glorious food you ate extends the trip long after - at least in your mind.

Q: Why put a bit of oil into pasta dough? Is it taste or to keep the fresh pasta from sticking? My grandmother did not add oil or water. I would like to find out how long to leave fresh pasta on the counter before cooking, maybe in plastic wrap if necessary. Also, freezer information.

Joshua Bell is such a poster boy for his generation of classical musicians that fans tend to know pretty much everything about him: His background as a violin prodigy. His youthful good looks and floppy brown hair. His penchant for boundary breaking - recording movie soundtracks and playing with jazz and even bluegrass artists. His $4 million Stradivarius.

Did you notice the January Effect? It's that brief but intense interest in healthier eating that always began sweeping the country when the calendar flipped over to 2012.

Joann Pelikan from Baltimore was hoping to locate a recipe for a dish she called Spanish steak. She said she enjoyed eating this when she was growing up in the 1960s and described it as steak that was slow-cooked with green pepper, onions and ketchup to yield a tender piece of meat with a tasty sauce. Mary Rostek from Perry Hall, Md., thought Pelikan's request sounded very much like the steak Creole she has been making since she was married in 1948. Her recipe calls for using individual cubed steaks that are made from beef that is taken from the top or bottom round and tenderized (or cubed) by running it through a butcher's tenderizing machine once or twice. It's an inexpensive cut that is still readily available in most supermarkets. In her recipe the steaks are browned in a skillet and then slowly simmered with the sauteed onion, pepper and tomatoes for around an hour until they are tender. Rostek says this is still one of her family's favorite meals and that it is an easy, foolproof and budget-friendly dish even for a novice cook.

Dear SOS: Recently, my best childhood friend treated me to a creekside birthday dinner at beautiful Novo Restaurant in San Luis Obispo, Calif. We both had the Thai green chicken curry, and it was absolutely incredible. I tried an online recipe that was good but just didn't reach the level of excellence that Novo's creation did. I would love to have the privilege of getting that recipe if possible!

This easy one-pot chili is perfect for a couple or a crowd. 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.

Glossy bottles of olive oil beckon from grocery shelves, their expensive, green contents promising remarkable health benefits, as well as sublime Mediterranean flavors. It's a pity that some of those bottles don't actually contain high quality, extra-virgin olive oil. In fact, some don't contain olive oil at all.

The latest thing from Kellogg is Special K granola bars. Although Mr. Tidbit finds himself thinking we already had Special K granola bars, at least in recent years it seems that the Special K brand has appeared only on so-called cereal bars and protein bars, both of which are based on a rice/wheat mixture. Whatever else you might imagine is in granola, it is heavily based on rolled oats.

It's as natural a pairing as steak and baked potato. Americans love their celebrities, and Americans love to eat. So why not celebrity cookbooks?

Growing up, David Gates liked to play in the dirt, especially at his grandparents' farm just west of Golden Valley, Minn.

Q: A chocolate cake recipe called for cacao nibs. What are those? Should I buy them raw or roasted?

Wine of the Week: 2010 Abbazia di Novacella 'Stiftskellerei Neustift'

So you're hosting a Super Bowl XLVI at your house and you're looking for some tips to spice things up. (Please, not another seven-layer dip!) If you go to YouTube for some inspiration, you are likely to find yourself staring into Sara O'Donnell's blue eyes.

I'm writing this column having just spent an hour with our local fruit gleaner picking tangelos from my tree. We must have pulled at least 40 pounds. Earlier in the day, I'd picked an additional three dozen pieces of fruit for recipe testing. And the danged tree still looks like it hasn't been touched.

Q. I would like to make my own granola trail mix. I have found some recipes from the 1960s, but they all call for a lot of oil. Do you have a healthier version?

Whether it's a bisque, a broth or some fancy-pants potage, there's just something about soup that warms both body and heart.

The next time you're sitting across from someone, eating with them, take note: Are you both taking bites at the same time?

Is the cold winter weather bringing you down? Just need a new idea for a get-together after the holiday season? Lolita Healy, creator of Designs By Lolita (http://designsbylolita.com/), has you covered. Healy offered five themes to add some flavor to parties before the warm weather of spring and summer returns.

The winter has been virtually snowless, but the temperatures haven't been high enough to give your furnace a three-month vacation.

Sometimes there's a disconnect between the proclamations of food gurus and what regular folks eat. Not so in the case of meatballs. Once labeled "dish of the year" by Bon Appetit magazine, meatballs are welcome everywhere.

PICADILLO WITH TOMATO AND ONION SALAD AND CHEDDAR CHEESE AND APPLES