Candlelight. Yeahhh...now some music. Bawawawchikkawawaaa...let's rhyme 'love' with 'above,' and 'rain' with 'again.' Yeah, nice. Now some body chocolates and champagne. Ohhhh...now a Build a Bear and some face-to-face action followed by catching up on your DVR back catalog.

Cordey

I have a feeling the woman is much happier than the dog.

​Valentine's Day: What a sham. Sorry, but it's a total pile of bantha poodoo. Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and 50 percent off Groupon deals for sensual oils and/or dinners at marginal restaurants. Fooey. No thanks.

I can get down with one thing, though. Here are some ideas to make your Valentine's more intimate.

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Photo by Mel Sharlene

Touchdown!

​Earlier, we brought you a Super Bowl Buffalo Chicken Dip big enough to feed a game day crowd. Now for the sweets (I mean, you need something to counteract all of the spicy wing dip and beer, right?). With only four ingredients, these Oreo Truffle Footballs are delicious, so simple to make and even easier to shop for.

A sort of heaven-sent hybrid between a cake ball, a cookie and a truffle, these little guys make the perfect bite-size sweet.

Here's how to make them:

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Photo by alanagkelly

Buffalo Chicken Dip. Because no one looks sexy with wing sauce on their face.

​Super Bowl Sunday is here. I don't know about you guys, but I can't wait to watch the G-men beat the living $@*! out of the Patriots (God, I hate Tom Brady). But before we watch the big game, I'll need to prepare for the second most exciting act of the day: the food.

Of course, when I think football, I think of beer and wings. I love me some Buffalo wings, but making them for a crowd can be quite the hassle. Enter the buffalo chicken dip - my solution to wings made easy (like, almost too easy). This dip, filled to the brim with shredded chicken, blue cheese and hot sauce, is definitely large enough to feed a crowd. Serve it with mixed veggies, chunks of warm sourdough bread, or crisp tortilla chips.

Here's how to make it:

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Photo by Brooke Viggiano

The Ultimate Sunday Funday Showdown

​After an entire season of Sunday Fundays enjoyed watching football (and cursing loudly as Sanchez throws yet another interception), I am ready to report back on my findings. Each Sunday, you can find me and a group of rowdy friends either occupying a large booth at Pub Fiction or huddled around the bar at Blackfinn American Grille.

While I enjoy what both Midtown bars/restaurants have to offer, only one can win this game. Broken down by quarter, with points for game day atmosphere, drinks, food, and overall service, here's how the game went:

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Photo by Brooke Viggiano

WINGING!!!

​Rutgers homecoming was last weekend. A lot has changed in the 5 years (gasp) since I've been at my alma mater's campus, mainly a lot more neon and house music. One thing though, has stayed the same: The Almighty Tailgate.

It's not a secret that Rutgers students and alum know how to party...and they certainly know how to eat. Seriously, we invented the fat sandwich for God's sake; that takes a special kind of person. We've even gone so far as to introduce the sandwich into our tailgates; go to nearly any tent and you can find platters of them spread out like veggie trays (I may or may not have pulled the old fashioned chat and cut to grab one from a tent on my way to the bathroom -- I've totally been meaning to catch up with that kid I sat behind in stats class freshman year anyway). The creativity shown by my fellow alum before the Rutgers games got me thinking -- classic tailgate food has really evolved in the past few years. It's not just plain burgers and dogs anymore.

I put together a list of the best twists on tailgate classics that I've seen in my days of pre-gaming for the big game. If I remember correctly after the 5 games of beer pong, 4 shotguns, 3 beer funnels, and 2 turtle doves, they are all insanely good.

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Robb Walsh

Or should we just call it National CFS Day?

​There seems to be a "day" for everything, from International Talk Like a Pirate Day to Weights and Measures Day and everything in between. Today is Eat What You Want Day. Yes, I'm telling you now, after you already had that guiltfree spinach salad with lemon wedges on the side. But look at it this way -- this just means that you can enjoy your afternoon snack and dinner with reckless abandon. It's like using all your meal points for a bottle of wine, crusty bread and a wee wheel of brie, recommended by certain diet plans. Trust me, I know.

So, feel free to justify the Detention, mac & cheese, chicken-fried meat or whatever your poison is. Go for the extra gravy or luscious, fat-laden sauce, it's okay. It's the one day a year specifically designated for self-indulgence, perhaps bordering on gluttony, feathers not included.I'm marking my calendar for next year, right now. Never again will I miss out on a free pass to have a full Irish breakfast, cheese enchiladas and chicken-fried steak, in one day.

How do you plan to indulge?

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Flickr user: kimberlykv

​Seven Memorial Days ago, my best friend Todd and I placed third in Under the Volcano's annual gumbo cook off. Despite feeling robbed by the second-place team, whose "gumbo" tasted like a bland can of Progresso, our feelings were bolstered by a woman who asked us to cater her upcoming house party.

Subsequent conversations led to us discussing the possibility of launching a catering business in the moonlight of our real jobs. That morphed into a follow-up, High Life-fueled chat about how we should buy an old taco truck and sell gumbo, high-quality coffee and whatever else we could muster to dwellers of remote office parks and festival-goers.

Unfortunately, we never got past the naming stage of the project. Two awful ideas that I had were:

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Jason Bargas

Click here to view the chart full-size.

​If you have to attend a Thanksgiving meal, then you have to make a Creamy White Deliciousness Pie - at least according to this handy flow chart, which we've assembled to help you navigate the holiday.

Fill your quota of Kickass Points (Cool Points are so 1980s) with a recipe so sweet and simple, your cousin Little Vinny No Neck could make it. Plus, it's so good even lactards will want a taste.

Creamy White Deliciousness Pie

• 8 oz fat free cream cheese
• 8 oz fat free sour cream
• 8 oz fat free Cool Whip
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 Oreo cookie crust

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tonibduguid

​March is upon us. The birds are singing, the weather's nice, and your favorite team is *surely* on the verge of the greatest Cinderella run in the history of collegiate sports. As long as they're not a 5 seed.

Now that tournament time is here, you'd better double-check that all systems are go. First of all, make sure your online bracket has a "boss button." After all, nothing messes up a perfectly good March like an old-fashioned flogging. Second, make sure you didn't choose your pool teams based on loyalty -- no matter how proud you are that your alma mater is dancing. And third, make sure you've got a go-to place for game watching, a place that serves beer. Here are a few of our favorite restaurants and bars to help you cheer your teams to victory, imploding brackets not included.

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