In M. F. K. Fisher’s many decades of food writing, she devoted countless pages to discussing the gastronomy of love, or “the almost vascular connection between love and lobster pâté, between eating and romance.” This is not news. Women have for ages been subjected to the hackneyed, and physiologically incorrect, expression about a way to a man’s heart. In more egalitarian terms, the sharing of a fine meal often provides an indispensable boost to a burgeoning romance.

I'm not naming any names, but I have a grown-man friend who's recently, unexpectedly and fabulously, fallen in love. Here's what he's thinking about:

• Manchego
• Zinfindel (oh my god, it's the other white meat of red wines)
• Scharffen Berger chocolate
• Homemade hummus with curry
• Charles Shaw Merlot (it's like $3 for chrissake!!)
• Blended red wines - the more varieties, the merrier (Menage-A-Trois was a recent favorite, Red
• Truck was also nice - insane at $10)
• Champagne (pretty hard to beat Moet White Star)
• Sheep's milk feta cheese
• Caerphilly cheese
• Avocados (thinly sliced with lemon juice and sea salt - it's like sashimi)
• Artichoke hearts with hearts of palm tossed in tahini
• Sticky toffee pudding

So, extrapolating, the way to a man's heart--or wherever--can be found at the confluence of dry wines and salty cheese?