If you are trying to avoid the dog house and come up with Valentine's Day plans or even romantic plans for this weekend, I have several posts to help you.

• HERE is my roundup of restaurant offerings.
• HERE is information on the Valentine's Day food truck rodeo in Carrboro.
• HERE is our weekly food calendar with more dining options, cooking classes and chocolate tastings.
   

The Fearrington House is offering the next in its series of Culinary Arts & Letters dinners  with special guest Colman Andrews.

Andrews, one of the founding editors of Saveur magazine, has won six James Beard awards for his cookbooks and food writing. He is now editorial director for The Daily Meal, a food and drink website and online forum.

The theme of the March 4 meal is "Four Courses from Four Books from Colman Andrews." Chef Colin Bedford will be cooking dishes from some of Andrews' books: "Saveur Cooks Authentic American," "Saveur Cooks Authentic Italian," "Catalan Cuisine" and "The Country Cooking of Ireland."

The March 4 dinner costs $125 per person. Andrews' cookbooks also will be available at a 25 percent discount  Call 542-2121 for a reservation.

The Fearrington House is located in Fearrington Village, a residential and commercial development off Highway 15-501 between Pittsboro and Chapel Hill.

Go HERE to read Greg's review of the Chapel Hill's East End Oyster & Martini Bar.

Taste, a new American-style tapas restaurant, opened Monday in the former GAKS teahouse location off Dixie Trail in Raleigh.

Co-owner Edward Haag explained the "American-style tapas" moniker as "so we can put lobster mac-n-cheese on the menu and not have people hate us for not being Spanish."

They offer more than a dozen small plates, each costing $10 or less. The menu will change six to eight times a year.

Haag, who runs the bar and the front of house, says he and chef Alex Unger met while working at the same restaurant in Syracuse. When Haag moved down here two years ago, he decided to open a restaurant and convinced Unger and his wife to help him.

The kitchen hours are 4-10 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 4-11 p.m. Friday-Saturday. The bar stays open later. The restaurant is at 3048 Medlin Drive, Raleigh, across from Crowley's

For more information, check out their Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Taste/144869475610846?sk=info

A handful of food trucks will gather for the Valentine's Day Food Rodeo and Fundraiser from 5:30-9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14 at the Carrboro Farmers' Market.

The beneficiaries are two local nonprofits: Table, an Orange County nonprofit that targets hunger relief, and the Inter-Faith Council for Social Service, a homeless outreach organization that offers beds, meals, medical care and other services.

The trucks that will be serving food include:

• Baguettaboutit: Baguette sandwiches featuring local sausages and specialty sauces. @baguettaboutit
• Cocoa Cinnamon: Select coffee, teas, spices and handmade chocolates. @cocoacinnamon
• Chirba Chirba:  Asian street fare truck specializing in Chinese dumplings. @ChirbaChirba
• Parlez-Vous Crepe: Made-to-order sweet and savory crepes. @parlezvouscrepe
• Monuts Donuts: A mix of classic and modern donut flavors. @monutsdonuts
• Triangle Raw Foodists will be there from 7-9:30 p.m. @TrnglRwFoodists

All trucks will donate a portion of their proceeds to the charities as well as collect nonperishable food items and donations.

Mystery Brewing Co., the Triangle's newest brewery, is finally up and running in Hillsborough.

The first pints of Mystery Brewing beers will be served at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Wooden Nickel  Pub in downtown Hillsborough. Mystery Brewing owner Erik Myers says they will be serving  these beers:

• Queen Anne's Revenge, an English-style black IPA that is not overly hoppy.
• Gentlemen's Preference, a Belgian-based blonde ale.
• A special cask of blonde ale that was the first beer they brewed on their system.

Myers, an avid home brewer, has had a long road to becoming a brewery owner. In the summer of 2010, he raised $40,000 via kickstarter with the initial idea of becoming a contract brewer -- he would brew his beer at other breweries. But the Triangle beer scene is so good that no breweries had capacity for his beer. So he changed his plan to open his own brewery and found space on Dimmocks Mill Road in West Hillsborough.

His brewery is not open to the public yet. They don't have a bar like Fullsteam in Durham or Big Boss in Raleigh. But Myers says they hope to have a grand unveiling party at the end of the month when they will release their other two beers:

• Six impossible Things, a breakfast stout made with oatmeal, chocolate and coffee.
• Mousqueton, a Belgian-style tripel named after one of the Three Musketeers' lackeys.

Myers says he plans to offer beers seasonally for a limited period of time and if they do well, offer them again the following year.

He plans to offer monthly tours of the brewery starting in March. While they don't have a bar, they do have a space where folks can fill a growler of beer or enjoy a pint during a tour. He plans to have a taproom open nearby by March or April.

"We hope," Myers cautions, noting: "I kept saying we'd get this brewery open last October."
 

Today's food centerpiece is a story from The Chicago Tribune about how many points men can score by cooking for their women on Valentine's Day. Remember: Recipe links are to the right under Related Content.

In the same Valentine's theme, we offer a story from the Akron Beacon Journal about two new chocolate cookbooks. I'm intrigued by the recipe for Mint Brownie Pudding Cakes.

I have a column about Raleigh now being home to 2 artisan bean-to-bar chocolate makers: Escazu and Videri. 

Suzanne Havala Hobbs' healthy eating column, On the Table column is about school lunches.

Linda Gassenheimer's Quick Fix column offers a recipe for Picadillo, a popular Cuban dish.

We share a story from oneforthetable.com on Chicken Chili.

We share a story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on slow cookers. The recipes include one for shredded chicken ragu.

In case you missed Debbie Moose's Sunday Dinner column about sugar packet theft, it's a must read. Go HERE.

Many cookbooks came into the office while I was out on maternity leave and it's time to clear my desk with some giveaways.

The first book you can win is: "Good Eats 3: The Later Years," by Alton Brown.

You know the drill: Leave a comment below this post before noon, Friday, Feb. 24. I will pick a winner at random. Good luck!

Empire Eats, the local restaurant group that owns The Raleigh Times Bar, Gravy, Sitti and The Pit, is buying the former Hideaway BBQ location on Capital Boulevard.

Hideaway BBQ, which was likely better known as a roots music venue than as a restaurant, closed in 2008. and has been empty ever since.

Greg Hatem, head of Empire Eats, says he building is ideal to use a catering kitchen since it is close to the highway and close to downtown. Empire Eats had been using the former Duck & Dumpling restaurant on Moore Square as a catering kitchen but Hatem has found new tenants for that space. No word yet on who that will be.

Seven local chefs will compete Feb. 25 for the title of shrimp and grits champion in the first ever Chapel Hill-Carrboro Chefs' Throwdown.

The event at The Carolina Inn is open to the public who will vote for the fan favorite. It costs $15 to attend the event, which is from 1-4 p.m.

The participating chefs include: Jeremy Blankenship of Tyler's Taproom; Trey Cleveland of Top of the Hill Restaurant & Brewery; Adam Cobb of Glasshalfull; Bret Jennings of Elaine's on Franklin; Vimala Rajendran of Vimala's Curryblossom Café; Jimmy Reale of Carolina Crossroads Restaurant and Bar; and Adam Rose of Il Palio at the Siena Hotel.

For more information and tickets, go to www.CarolinaInnThrowdown.com.

A portion of the proceeds will benefit TABLE, a nonprofit aimed at helping children at risk of hunger.