VIRGINIA BEACH Hump day is one of my favorite days, and the fact that it marks the halfway point of the work week is only part of the reason.

If you're mulling what wine to buy for your Valentine, I have a recommendation. No, I'm not going to focus on any one wine or wine category, as I usually do. Besides, you don't need to be reminded yet again this year that pink sparkling wine is the favorite Valentine's Day pour of wine writers.

Dinner and a movie.
It’s not so simple if you’re going gourmet in a fight against time.

The dish Bandejita El Desorden The cost $9.50 (menu items for dine-in are discounted 15 percent Monday through Friday, 2:30-5:30 p.m.) The eatery El Desorden Columbian Cuisine, 665 Newtown Road, 497-4141, www.eldesordenva.com Why I liked it El Desorden, located near Newtown and Baker roads, bills itself as 100 percent Columbian. Our server was helpful and hospitable.

Cheers! Prost! Salud! Salute!

Over at a neighborhood sushi bar the other day, we smacked the table, toppled a glass and added the Japanese word for “cheers” to our railside repertoire.

With Super Bowl Sunday just days away, we got to wondering: What if the championship was decided by flavor, not brawn? Imagine the New York Giants and the New England Patriots going head to head at the kitchen table with hometown eats from both sides.
Imagine no more.
Foodball, not football, was the scene Sunday when The Pilot hosted a Super Bowl XLVI Championship of Chow.

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the winner | the rest I Other Nominees | the scoring | The judges | Next TaSTE TEST

More local brews. Restaurant gardens. And macarons nibbling at the margins of the cupcake business.
Expect all this and more from the local food scene in 2012, says Howard Gevertz, a former chef who teaches food service management at the Culinary Institute of Virginia. He has compiled a list of likely trends, and predicted some - such as food trucks, that will largely bypass the region.

The neatly stacked plastic containers that cover the top of Marie Macpherson Gordon's refrigerator speak volumes about her generosity in the kitchen.
She uses them constantly to dish up leftovers for guests to take home.
"My enjoyment is feeding others," she says in her soft Scottish lilt.