You know how I feel about dining out on Valentine's Day: I'd rather stay home and cook. But if someone were to put my feet to the fire and insist I make a list of "romantic" places to send my readers (and they did!) I'd tell 'em, "Cut me a break! One woman's romantic restaurant is another's `You've got to be kidding!'" Sure it's romantic to sit at a tiny table for two with a view at Place Pigalle, sharing a half-dozen oysters and a chocolate pot de creme. Or side-by-side on a banquette at Licorous, savoring a well-made cocktail and a couple of pretzel dots -- says me.

Place Pigalle, hidden away in Pike Place Market and a pair of pretties at Licorous, where I love to lift one. [Seattle Times photos/Betty Udeson (left) and Mike Siegel]

My idea of romance involves dining at the counter at Spinasse next to a total stranger, sharing antipasti and tajarin with two of my dearest friends -- as I did last week. Though you may beg to differ. In fact, I can already hear you saying, "Yeah? But what if there was no room at the bar and you had to sit at one of those communal tables listening to some Capitol Hill condo-dweller carry on about her ex-husband?" (Point well taken.)

Well, because the season is nigh, here are some ideas for places where you and yours might do the romance dance. Please take these suggestions with a grain of salt, preferably fleur de sel -- which you'll find on the tables at Boat Street Cafe: a perfectly romantic place. At least I think so.

And because I'd really like to know: where do you like to eat and drink when romance is on the menu? My comments box is open for business!

Mash notes from Nance Romance:

If your sweetheart rides a Hog: Check out the vroom-vroom room at Renton's newly Irish-accented Mick Kelly's at Full Throttle. Lift an Harp -- and some fish 'n chips -- while straddling a leather bar-stool built to resemble your ride. Or repair to the indoor "patio" overlooking the spacious showroom at Renton Motorcycle Company.

Indoors -- and out -- at Full Throttle. You're either for us, or a Guinness. [I'm for you!]

If you're a talented chef in search of a new restaurant, there's no doubt that at times like these, when one door closes, another opens. The door I'm talking about today is Cremant's: one that has seen it's share of adoration, though it's also been a portal for much controversy -- as you may have read right here.

1423 34th Avenue, in the heart of Madrona.
[Kevin P. Casey/special to the Seattle Times]

As I mentioned last week, Donna Moodie came close to signing a lease on the old Cremant space, but decided instead to relocate Marjorie to new digs at 14th and East Union. With that deal off the table, the building's owner and architect Roy McMakin turned to another Seattle restaurateur who had his eye on the prize. "We got a pretty good deal on it," chef Vuong Loc told me last week. "We've been debating it for, like, six months."

Loc, the owner of Queen Anne's petite Portage bistro, doesn't have firm plans for the new restaurant yet, but says we can expect "something along the same lines as Portage, but with more of a Vietnamese influence." He hopes to have the place open by May.

Chef Vuong Loc, and his wife and business partner, Tricia.
Seattle Times/Greg Gilbert

It's February, so you know what that means: they (and you know who they are) want me to think "romance in the air." So for this month's restaurant roundup, I followed the perfume of berbere, rose water and saffron, cardamom, fenugreek and mint, garlic, ginger and galangal. I ate with my hands, with a swath of bread and with a lust for life lived elsewhere -- if only for an evening. Here's where I landed.

It had been some time since I've traveled to Kabul, where I had a chance to practice my fractured Farsi and find myself seduced by the cuisine of Afghanistan. Now I can't wait to go back for more, especially since chef, owner and all-around nice guy Wali Kairzada just reintroduced live music (Tuesdays and Thursdays) at his intimate Wallingford bistro.

Nancy had a little lamb at Kabul, with raisin-sweetened rice and badenjan borani (that's the yogurt-sauced eggplant, right).

Habesha, in the Denny Triangle, is a sexy, centrally located hipster haunt for Ethiopians and those of us who appreciate their fragrant finger foods. Share chicken wot, sega tibs (berbere-spiked beef) and vegetarian combos like the one in the photo below.

Sure, he calls Seattle home now, but 28-year-old chef Brian Cartenuto -- whose menu has been wowing 'em here in the Emerald City at Cantinetta -- is getting plenty of good press in his hometown, as I read in this week's dispatch from Florida's Emerald Coast. Turns out Brian's doing the James Beard mambo, blowing out of Seattle next week to cook at the James Beard House, as so many terrific Seattle chefs have done before him.

According to the story out of Niceville, the chef comes from a line of restaurant-savvy individuals. His brother owns a couple of Niceville businesses, including Joey Tomato's Deli and Little Joe's. His folks work at his brothers' restaurant. And (here's my favorite part of the story) the Seattle chef had another vocation in mind before attending culinary school and launching a cross-country cooking career: he planned to become a priest.

I'm a big fan, as I confessed to Cartenuto (and his amiable boss, front-man Trevor Greenwood) after a quick bite at Cantinetta, which has become my defacto pit-stop when I'm showing friends from out of town what a great Seattle neighborhood-restaurant looks like. That's the second time in recent weeks I've ended up at the bar at Cantinetta, entertaining out-of-towners, sipping a mean Negroni and sharing a cataplana filled with fresh mussels.

Hey! Jo and Larry! Why don't you quit that frozen wasteland and move down here and open a nice little neighborhood restaurant? We've done it before ("lee-ly? no kidding. high crass") and we can do it again! [photo courtesy Kiyoshi Grollman]

Maybe you read the news that last month was the warmest January on record. And perhaps you've noticed the city's ornamental cherry trees are blooming pink. But let's face it: the bloom is not yet off the rose. It's still winter. And when we cook in winter, we often turn to our freezers for inspiration. I do, anyway. Though, as I've mentioned before, what I find in there isn't always so inspiring. Today on "Food for Thought," I had a chat with my radio sidekick Dick Stein about a handful of frozen fruit and vegetable must-haves taking up royal residence in my freezer, including these:

Frozen edamame (left) and a cup of mixed frozen berries -- straight out of the supermarkets' frozen foods-section.

Edamame in the pod aren't just for sushi bars anymore. You can pop those soybeans right in the nuker (or blanch them, if you'd rather), sprinkle a little salt over the top and quick as you can say "Bob's your uncle!" you've got a healthy and inexpensive treat. Those berries -- which, as far as I'm concerned are the sale-of-the-century -- came fresh-frozen from Carnation's Remlinger Farms. I've seen them elsewhere, but I got those at Shoreline Central Market.

It's been a year and a half since I wrote about the impending closure of Marjorie, divulging Donna Moodie's plans to relocate her Belltown bistro and bar after the building that housed it was sold. "When I found out I had to move, I felt really devastated," she said at the time. "But then I looked around and saw it was a great opportunity, too." At year's end, opportunity knocked, and plans are now underway to recreate Marjorie in a new space adjacent to the Chloe Apartments on Capitol Hill. Sure, the site isn't everything Donna wanted when she was dreaming of her next move, but in this economy, she says, it's got everything she needs.

Dig the new digs -- just off the corner of 14th and East Union.

"Last year wasn't a bad year to sit out the restaurant business," insists Donna, who spent 2009 making plans for her restaurant, consulting on others, and waiting tables at bustling little How to Cook a Wolf. "Working at Wolf has inspired me to think smaller," she says. How small? Forty seats, including bar stools. As for Marjorie's opening date, she's guessing April or May -- barring permitting problems.

Every Sunday morning -- if I'm lucky -- I get a good hour to sit and read the paper the old fashioned way: by holding it in my hands. Yesterday, I was impressed to see how much coverage the Seattle Times gave to my favorite subject. Here's a taste, just in case you missed it:

Could you feed two people on $12 a day, or feed yourself on $7? That's the question posed again this year by United Way of King County during Hunger Action Week -- an annual effort to raise awareness of the plight of those living on food stamps. Reporter Nancy Bartley profiles culinary student and food blogger Eric Rivera, (who took the challenge last week), and more to the point, a single mother who, like millions of others across the nation, is challenged by those financial constraints throughout the year. Read the story here.

The Footprint Issue of our Pacific Northwest magazine dug into the greenery of "a new edibles ethic" with a grow-your-own cover story courtesy of garden-guru Valerie Easton. Val profiled the ways in which gardeners might give it up for foodstuffs. The photo spread encompassed the edible landscape and Green Lake-neighborhood garden of Tom Douglas's right-hand woman Shelley Lance (who blogs right here) and her husband, Frank Shoichet. What Val didn't mention is the couple have close ties to another well-publicized garden: the Obama's (their personal chef, Sam Kass -- who tends the tomatillos at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- is Frank's cousin).

There's a reason they call it the service industry. Area restaurants -- large and small -- have reached out to Haiti, offering financial aid (with your help), as mentioned in previous posts. From pho stops to bakeshops, neighborhood bars to neighborhood bistros, its heartening to see the local aid effort take off and deliver.

For those who feel Haiti would be better served if we all just sent a check directly to a charitable organization -- rather than help fund these fund-raising efforts by dining out -- I say, consider this: It's all about community, and if there's a more generous community than the local food community, I've yet to meet it. Need proof? How about this good news:

Family-run Bob's Bakery on Vashon Island raised $12,000 on two successive Sunday drives, says co-owner Jill Beytebiere, who, along with her baker (and husband) Paul, graciously accepted a $4000 matched donation from a regular customer who wishes to remain anonymous. That $12,000 will go to four child-centered Haitian organizations. "Our children have been to Haiti," and seen the orphanages there, says Jill. "So we know first hand what they do." For more on the Beytebiere's ongoing efforts, here and in Haiti, watch this video: