Dinner

When I heard on Sunday that Arlen Specter had died, I sought solace in rummaging through personal remnants of our 30-year friendship. My memories span campaigns, Senate hearings, radio broadcasts, martinis, dinners, birthdays, and bat mitzvahs. They include a night in Havana when I watched him debate Fidel Castro at the dinner table, a donnybrook I dubbed "the D.A. vs. the Dictator. " And our time together is evidenced in campaign buttons, ticket stubs to Supreme Court confirmation hearings, tapes of radio broadcasts, manuscripts he wrote, and countless photographs.

LAST YEAR, chef Jen Carroll appeared as one of the People Paper's "Sexy Singles. " Aside from a few "odd messages on Facebook," and "some people hanging around the bar" at the Ritz-Carlton, not much came of the exposure. "Honestly, I'm still single!" she said. And right now, she wouldn't have it any other way. "If I want to work 16 hours and not feel guilty about missing dinner, I can," she explained. But then again . . . "Unless somebody sweeps me off my feet and changes my mind tomorrow.

Cooking classes - the one-off, loosely structured gatherings of food fans around a chef's counter - have become a form of entertainment in this region. Yes, we watch Food Network, the Cooking Channel, and Bravo. Iron Chef , Good Eats , and Top Chef are immensely popular. "But if you have a question, you can't ask the TV, of course, and you can't taste the food," said Ed Countey, who runs the culinary school for Kitchen Kapers stores. Thus the popularity of live cooking classes at community centers, supermarkets, cooking schools, and even church kitchens.

Hello there Amanda and Mike were matched in May 2009 by the eHarmony dating website. They e-mailed for a few weeks, had one phone call, and then met at West Chester's Iron Hill Brewery. "I really liked him, and we had a great time at dinner," Amanda said. She had just one worry: Mike was about to leave for a two-week European vacation. "Timing is everything," Amanda said. "I figured he was going to go on vacation, and then I would never hear from him again. " Mike liked Amanda, too. But after touring Germany, Hungry, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Austria, that date at the Brewery seemed like a long time ago. It felt like that opportunity had passed, and Mike likely would have restarted his romance-finding efforts with the latest batch of eHarmony matches had he not got an e-mail from Amanda.

This summer my family joined first lady Michelle Obama in battling obesity by eating homegrown food from pots on our deck: 47 cherry tomatoes, 13 jalapeños, 8 cucumbers, and various herbs. We accomplished this without hiring a gardening staff. But now the 2012-13 academic year is upon us, bringing with it a different culinary challenge: wedging nutritious dinners into the tempo of life containing homework, afternoon sports, and parental work schedules. Add to that a renewed focus on moving children toward healthier meal choices by involving them in the cooking or growing process.

While Octomom Nadya Suleman's money woes continue, she's decided to try online dating. TMZ.com reports that Octo has created an online dating profile for WhatsYourPrice.com, a site where users (formerly called johns) can pay other users to go out with them. In this heat, who wants to stand on a corner? Octo didn't even lie in her profile, even though Tattle finds it a real deal-breaker when we see a woman's profile that says: Have kids: Yes, 14. Want kids: Yes. She said she loves to laugh (with her laugh, that's not a plus)

A Neapolitan pizzeria and a French bistro have joined Phoenixville's dining lineup. At Vecchia Pizzeria Napoletana (249 Bridge St., 610-933-1355), townsman Frank Nattle imports everything from Naples - the 00 flour, the San Marzano tomatoes, the bufala mozzarella, even the two stonemasons who built his oven from Mount Vesuvius stone. While working at the now-closed Brick Oven Bread & Cheese Shop down the street, Nattle experimented with pizza-baking after hours in the still-warm oven.

In the early-morning hours of June 13, six Philadelphia chefs began filling their trunks with meticulously organized containers and coolers, each vessel stocked with the raw materials necessary to execute an elaborate, $170-a-seat dinner at New York's James Beard House. One unmistakable foodstuff, however, had been fully prepared ahead of time. "We wanted to bring a little Philly up with us," said the event's organizer, Mémé's David Katz. "So we brought scrapple. " This was no processed slab of gray, store-bought mush.

Chillin' Wit' is a regular feature of the Daily News spotlighting a name in the news away from the job. MICHAEL DiBerardinis, deputy mayor and parks and recreation commissioner, with a sharp kitchen knife in hand, is in the throes of his Sunday ritual. He hovers over the kitchen counter inside his four-bedroom, one-bath Fishtown home, where he's lived since 1987, chopping onions with the speed, ease and skill of Chef Emeril. His wife of 34 years, Joan Reilly, chief operating officer at the Mural Arts Program, has just finished setting the table for 10 and prepares to drive to Chestnut Hill to pick up her sharp-witted 90-year-old mother.

Hugh Hefner is a forgiving man. After having his sexual prowess dissed by Crystal Harris when she fled the mansion days before their intended 2011 wedding, the nation's playboy-in-chief has decided to take her back. "Access Hollywood" reports that the pair has rekindled their romance. "Yes @hughhefner and I are back together," the 26-year-old Tweeted of her 86-year-old lover. "Yes I am his #1 girl again. Yes we are happy. Hope that clears up any confusion! Xo" "Happy to be back home at the Playboy Mansion with @hughhefner and our puppy Charlie," she added.