From the heart

I've been working on the ultimate recipe for a poached- pear dessert, and though it lacked any Val- entine's-red color, I gave it a quick shot when we got back from dinner with Dwight at Salsa Loca -- just for the two of us, and it maybe took 20 minutes.

Plump up the raisins in rum and orange juice, with a dash of Peychaud's bitters. Poach the pears in simple syrup scented with cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Plate it all up with a big dollop of mascarpone, and serve on the good china with sterling.

If it had been a dinner-party thing, I would have squiggled the plate with raspberry ribbons and garnished it with mint. But it was just the two of us, and I was missing my squiggler. And the raspberry. And the mint. But it did warm my heart: Robert said it was the best he'd ever tasted. Gotta love an easy date.