"The love of food, when it is shared, is conducive to a blissful love life." --Brillat-Savarin, 18th-century French writer and epicurean Anticipating pleasures of the table with a loved one only heightens the delights in cooking together-particularly because cooking and eating are two delicious steps on "the way to the heart." An accomplished French cook offers 80 classic recipes to be prepared or tasted as a couple, according to the occasion-perhaps for a Valentine's Day dinner at home, for an anniversary-any celebration that starts with dinner and a romantic mood. Pauquin's suggestion for your candle-lit supper might start with oysters and fresh herb parcels of ginger and lime, and end with an improvised midnight feast in the bedroom of cherry and goat's cheese covered in poppy seeds-toasted with raspberry confetti champagne.These irresistible dishes are sure to delight all the senses and season your romantic dining in an inimitable French style.

Marianne Paquin is a writer, editor and consultant for several lifestyle magazines in France. Her first Flammarion cookbook, La Cuisine des Beaux Jours, is available in French only. Jacques Boulay is the photographer of many lifestyle books published in France, including La Cuisine des Beaux Jours.