Think of fall flavors: pumpkin pie, Chai lattes, candied yams. There’s a warm and spicy sensuality to this season that sort of takes the edge off of the impending winter.

Cooler weather makes drinking red wine a pleasure again. Here are some hearty reds with a spicy soul, ideal for drinking and discovering in company.

Let’s say you were offered a choice – a hundred million dollars to be an exec at Facebook or $5 an hour plus tips to work at a bar. Wouldn’t you happily tell everyone you made your millions online? Me too.

Giving gifts to men can be as confusing as multivariable calculus. In this case, less is more. The ideal gift says, “I care, but I’m not trying to buy your affection.”  The gift-giving formula all depends on how well you know him and how long you’ve been dating.  Unless you’ve been together for at least four months, taking him out for a romantic dinner on his birthday is going overboard.  Here are some guidelines to help hone in on that perfect gift to prevent him from fleeing in the opposite direction

There is usually something that keeps non-baker types from actually making desserts. The die-hards will make dessert no matter what, but non-baker types have their “lines in the sand”.  I find that rolling out or making a pie crust is a top contender for non-baker types as the leading reason to: purchase dessert from the store, con someone else into making it or to skip it and buy some Ben and Jerry’s!

When I was in junior high school, I read the book Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse and became fascinated with the idea of setting forth on my own spiritual quest. During spring vacations, when our family would drive from Chicago to Florida, I began the practice of looking out the window at various landscapes trying to find the perfect place for me to live like a hermit and reach enlightenment. The minimum requirements included a grassy area by a stream and a tree. My requirements for a hotel in Florida, however, included a vending machine and a swimming pool. As I got older, my spiritual search led me away from trips to Boca to treks in the Himalayas where my soul soared in the heart of Buddhist teachings while the rest of my body kvetched from the affects of altitude. From Nepal to Bhutan, I saw myself as an adventurer and seeker, always looking out for that perfect moment of Nirvana, just around the corner, or keeping a watchful eye for the perfect Buddhist monk or nun with a shaved head who would, through word or action, invite me into the world of enlightenment.

I’ve amassed a list of common dating sins based on my own experience as both a victim and a perpetrator and paired them with some of my favorite kosher wines for wrapping it up, righting the wrongs, and starting fresh in 5772.  L’Chaim!

Whether you believe in common interests or opposites attracting, we’ve always measured a relationship by preferred hobbies. I once had a girl break up with me because she liked to go hiking and I’m not outdoorsy, and she liked a glass of wine with dinner and I don’t drink. When she ended things, I suggested that I’d build her a bar in the woods. What was she going to do, break up with me twice?

Summertime and gorgeous fruit is plentiful. Bright colors and a garden of aromatic scents fill markets and farm stands. It is easy to go crazy and over purchase when the produce looks so good.

At its most basic level, the marriage of science and relationships has taught us that we find beauty in youthful traits (big eyes, shiny hair, lush lips); that bad boys are attractive because the same high testosterone levels that make them the alpha-male type also lends the promise of passing that on to their offspring and that men love curvy women because it shows higher levels of fertility.

One of my favorite preparations of eggplant is Caponata. Caponata is a Sicilian dish similar to a chopped and cooked vegetable salad. Sicilian cuisine is complex and owes its use of many flavors and influences to its diverse history and demographics. Many Sicilian dishes have hookup roots and come from Jews taken as slaves after Israel’s destruction thousands of years ago.