Our "A" list of things that embody the spirit of The Dish. Too pooped at the end of the day to whip up fabulous healthy fare? It's personalchef.com to the rescue! It's not just for the rich and famous anymore. If you find yourself eating out a lot, compare the cost; you may just be surprised at how affordable it can be. Some chefs offer weekly meal delivery, while others whip it up in your own kitchen. Go to personalchef.com to see if there is a personal chef dishing out healthy fare in your area. You don't have to be a city girl to enjoy reading about the city food scene. So, whether you live in New York, are a former New Yorker or just want to be in the know when it comes to the culinary comings and goings in the five boroughs, check out thefoodsection.com. Want to walk on the wild side and indulge that chocolate craving this Valentine's Day, without falling off the deep end? There's a way to get a taste of the rich stuff without doing time for the crime. Try strawberries dipped in dark chocolate. It's a taste of heaven! May we suggest brymmberries.com? You'll be in good company. These hand designed, chocolate-dipped strawberries were chosen to be a part of last year's Academy Awards Gift Baskets.

Hello from The Dish Divas!

Welcome back to the Dish Divas' newsletter, where you'll get the dish on what's new, what's hot and what simply struck our fancy that we'd like to share. It's all meant to build on the basics in The Dish so that you have what you need to continue looking and feeling fabulous. And it's catching on nationwide. Here's what USA Today recently had to say about The Dish, "It's packed with tips, advice and easy-to-read lists, including an excellent section on dining out."

If you haven't gotten your copy of The Dish yet, you're in luck. This month, we're having our first giveaway contest. First prize? A copy of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous! Just sign up here and under "Comments," type "The Dish Giveaway." We'll have a drawing and announce the winner on March 1st on our website homepage. Stay tuned, because there are more giveaways to come!
Carolyn and Densie

Dish Diva Valentine Tip Chocolate has, shall we say, an amorous reputation. It's said that Casanova turned to chocolate to get his motor running before turning on the charm to turn on the ladies. But can chocolate really heat things up? Maybe. Chocolate contains natural mood-enhancing compounds. And, let's face it, we're all more likely to be in the mood, when we're in a good mood. But, Viagra for women, it's not. If you're given chocolate for Valentine's Day, enjoy (one or two pieces at a time) and opt for dark chocolate (it contains the most health-promoting compounds) and who knows, you might just get lucky!

Share The Dish! It's a gift from the heart that helps improve the heart. It's the ultimate nutrition guide to feeling and looking your loveable best! For Valentine's Day, why not let your friends know how fabulous they are and give them a copy of The Dish on Eating Healthy and Being Fabulous! Celebrate being hip and healthy together.

Densie’s Dish
"Superb! Fabuleux! We are changing the trend from zee boring diet books!" That's what our Hip and Healthy Heroine, Mereille Guiliano (pg 224 in The Dish), author of French Women Don't Get Fat, has to say about The Dish! We couldn't be more proud. It was in The Dish that she first proclaimed, "I have never been on a diet!" Having recently returned from Paris myself, I'll be the first to admit that her title certainly seems to say it all. Walking down the glorious streets of Paris, it's a challenge to find even one woman (or man, for that matter) who is fat. (And the French sense of style is certainly something to take note of...ooh la la!) Is it the food? Is it the lifestyle? Mereille says it's both. The same secrets to staying svelte that are revealed in her slim book are all laid out in detail in The Dish and they'll work for you no matter where you were born or what language you speak.

More on Paris
I was in Paris, BTW, to find out the latest on the health benefits of the "good" bacteria, known as probiotics, found in yogurt and other fermented dairy products. Nestled outside of Paris in a picturesque little town, are the research facilities for Danone, the parent company for Dannon. Yogurt is a nutritious snack, but the research that goes on there zeroes in on the health benefits of probiotics that go beyond just good nutrition. Among the potential health benefits: a boost in the ability to fight infections, fewer allergies, lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol. The French are way ahead of us—they consume about three times as much fermented dairy products, including yogurt, as we do. For a yummy yogurt recipe, go to our website.

Fabulously Healthy Fast Food Fare
Okay. Admit it. Sometimes you partake of fast food. We all have those times when there just aren't enough hours in the day. Well, now there's one less excuse not to eat healthy when you do resort to the drive-thru window. Wendy's has just introduced a fresh fruit bowl entrée complete a low-fat yogurt for dipping. For only 220 calories, 1 gram of fat and 3 grams of fiber, you've got a healthy, grab-'n-go meal. And you'll get your full day's recommended fruit intake in one tidy take-out package.

Travelin’ Carolyn
As my travels to share The Dish continue, it's been fun discovering the ways our Dish Diva food philosophy is showing up on menus everywhere.

This Way to the Tiki Huts
There's no better fitness motivator than putting on a bathing suit in the middle of winter. I took "The Palm Tree Express" to the Turks & Caicos Islands, in the northern Caribbean to visit Parrot Cay resort and its new spa, Shambhala. The water there is the kind of blue there's no word for, so to see for yourself go to www.parrot-cay.com. Parrot Cay is a soothing luxury sanctuary where West Indies style architecture blends with long beaches and lush foliage. Deep Dish: Stars own villas nestled nearby. Bruce Willis wasn't there, but we toured his all-white beach house with gourmet kitchen and master bedroom with giant plasma screen TV (for watching reruns of Die Hard movies.) I was treated like a movie star, too. Ginger tea to ease into spa treatments. Cuisine as vibrant as the island. Grouper with Citrus sauce was amazing. Salad greens, grown on island farms, were florist shop perfect. Served with solitude. Parrot Cay has beaches where yours are the only footprints in the sand.

Next Stop: The Island of Nantucket
A book signing at The White Elephant Hotel brought me to Nantucket in December. The tiny island off the coast of Massachusetts is known for classic grey and white shingled homes kissed with sun and sea spray.
www.WhiteElephantHotel.com
It was great to visit in chilly weather as the fireplace crackled my room and the winter sun guided me along cobblestone streets.

Chef Jody Adams of Boston's award winning Rialto Restaurant was a featured author as well, with her cookbook, In the Hands of a Chef. www.rialto-restaurant.com
Jody's cooking demonstration had us craving her cooking and her culinary mind! Here's her recipe featuring sweet and small bay scallops.

Bay Scallops with Celery Root and Tangerines
From In the Hands of a Chef by Jody Adams, owner and chef Rialto Restaurant, Boston (Morrow 2002).

Ingredients:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon minced shallots
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
1 small celery root, peeled, sliced very thin into matchsticks
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch scallions, white part and the first inch of green part only, cut into 1/2 inch pieces on the diagonal
3 stalks celery, chopped into 1/2 inch dice
2 garlic cloves
1/8 teaspoon anise seeds
2 tangerines, skin and membrane removed, cut into segments over a bowl to save juices
1 1/4 pound bay scallops
1/4 cup fresh flat leaf parsley

1. Mix the mayo, mustard shallots and 2 tablespoons lemon juice together in a small bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add the celery root and toss well. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
2. Heat the 1/4 cup olive oil in a small sauté pan over medium heat. Add the scallions, celery root, garlic and anise seeds, and season with salt and pepper. Cook until just tender, about three minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil in large saute pan over high heat. Season the scallops with salt and pepper. When the oil is hot, but not quite smoking, add the scallops in a single layer, leaving 1/2 inch space between each scallop so they don't steam. Cook, without touching or moving the scallops, until they are golden brown on one side, about two minutes. Toss the scallops once and transfer to large plate.
4. Add the tangerine juice from segments to the pan and reduce to a glaze. This will happen quickly. Add the cooked celery mixture, the remaining lemon juice, the parsley and the tangerine segments to the pan. Toss until heated through and then remove from heat.
5. To serve, put a spoonful of celery root salad in the middle of each warmed plate. Distribute the scallops evenly around the celery root. Spoon the vegetables and the pan juices over the scallops and serve.

"Party 101" in New Orleans
In a holiday mood, I traveled to New Orleans to share The Dish at a Rice growers' conference. Enjoying rice is certainly part of our food philosophy. (See page 117 of The Dish for the Long and Short on Rice.) A delicious highlight of my trip was dinner at the always fabulous Commander's Palace Restaurant. Ti Martin (daughter of restaurant royalty's Ella Brennan on page 125 of The Dish), definitely inherited the famous family's hospitality gene. Ti welcomed us with an appetizer of Shrimp and Pickled Okra with Tasso ham and showed us how to get the party started with a Sazerac Cocktail, a New Orleans' original made with bourbon, bitters, Pernod and a little sugar. For the recipes, check out Commander's Kitchen by Ti Adelaide Martin and Jamie Shannon (Broadway Books, 2000).

Next newsletter stops: Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe and The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia!

To email us and find more recipes go to www.dishdivas.com