By Sarika Chawla

...but check out our ultimate Valentine's Day gift guide that is guaranteed to touch your special someone's sweet spot.

Wining, Dining, and Valentining

Who says chocolate is just for dessert? Jonathan's Chocolate Decadence Dinner is a meal for sweet-toothed lovers to explore their richest fantasies. Lovers can enjoy chocolate-tinged salad, handcrafted chocolate-infused pasta, and round out the evening with Jonathan's sensuous truffles. Bring home goodies like Chocolate Body Frosting or Strip Chocolate! Feb. 10-14, 6-11 p.m. $25 per guest. Comparte's Chocolate, 912 S. Barrington Ave., Brentwood. For more information, call (310) 826-3380.

The sixth annual Valentine's Tea Event features the flavors of India to benefit The International Humanities Center. With henna painting, tarot readings, Bollywood dancing, free Indian-inspired food, and of course ... tea! 4-8 p.m. $15-$20. Center for Living Meditation, 220 Pier Ave., Santa Monica. For more information, call (310) 699-7271, or see www.kulov.com/06in06.

Romance your Valentine under the stars. Relax in a cabana with a full meal, plus a bottle of Veuve Cliquot champagne and fresh strawberries. Cabana packages $200. The Abbey, 692 N. Robertson Blvd., W. Hlywd. For more information, call (310) 289-8410.

Looking for love, or just to get laid? Valentine Mixer has dating games, door prizes, and back room make-out sessions for you to find some special guy(s). Akbar, 4356 Sunset Blvd., Silver Lake. For more information, call (323) 665-6810.

Love is in the air at the Diaghilev Restaurant, where the Aphrodite Interlude Menu tempts your tastebuds with a passion-infused five-course meal. From oysters to simple chocolate, aphrodesiacs keep things hot all night long. $95 per guest. Bel Age Hotel, 1020 N. San Vicente Blvd., W. Hlywd. For more information, call (310) 854-1111.

Give your Valentine's dinner some international flair with the music of Strunz & Farah, from Costa Rica and Iran, respectively, who have created an entirely new expression for the acoustic guitar. 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 W. Sunset Blvd., Hlywd. For more information, call (323) 466-2210, or see www.catalinajazzclub.com.

Screw couplehood at an Alternative Valentine's Day Dinner. Go solo or bring your buds to a gathering with mad-lib love poetry, chocolate-dipped broken heart cookies, champagne, and a scrumptious meal. 7-9 p.m. $20-$25. Highland Grounds, 742 N. Highland Ave., Hlywd. For more information, call (323) 466-1507.

Who are you calling a lady? Celebrate puppy love with a digitally restored engagement of Lady and the Tramp. Follow it up with two spoons over a luscious strawberry "Sweetheart Sundae," next door at the Disney Soda Fountain and Studio Store. El Capitan, 6838 Hollywood Blvd., Hlywd. For more information, call 800-DISNEY6, or see www.elcapitantickets.com.

There's something for anyone at Desperately Seeking Singles, with a special performance by the dance troupe Male Brigade, from break dance to belly dance, plus free manicures by Mark Cosmetics, and tons of give-aways. 7 p.m. $15. Key Club, 9039 W. Sunset Blvd., W. Hlywd. For more information, e-mail guestlist@malebrigade.com.

Fall in love all over again over a luxurious Valentine's Day dinner at Mark's Restaurant. Begin the evening with a champagne toast, followed by a three-course meal designed for lovers. $60 per guest. Mark's Restaurant, 861 N. La Cienega., W. Hlywd. For more information, call (310) 652-5252.

Looking for love in all the wrong places? John the Matchmaker can solve your problems of the heart in a few easy sessions, where a selection of men of all ages, types, and sizes is just waiting for you. For more information, call (323) 644-9857.

If music be the food of love, play on. The Trio D'Amore creates an evening of enchantment with international selections of Baroque, classical, and contemporary music. 8 p.m. $15-$25. MET Theatre, 1089 Oxford Ave., Hlywd. For more information, call (323) 957-1152.

Sweet Couch Potatoes

Care to stretch your way to a better orgasm? It's that simple to put the "O" back in yoga with the Better Sex Through Yoga series, available in a three-volume box set. These enlightening programs use Tantra yoga movements to awaken the sexual core, improving endurance and intensifying your most sensual experiences. $14.98 each, $29.98 set. Available at www.goldhilentertainment.com.

Learn how to do it downward doggie style with the Hot Nude Yoga DVD box set. Flex and stretch alongside your partner to this four-disc set, bringing your relationship to a higher, more sensusal plane, infusing spirituality into your sex life. $89.99. Available at www.HotNudeYoga.com and www.amazon.com.

Give the gift of music as artist Goapele (Gwa-pa-lay) brings an infusion of fresh energy to classic R&B with her sophomore set, Change It All. Known as much for her social and political activism as for her romantic ballads, the singer has created a collection of love songs and socially-inspired numbers. $12.98. Available in stores. For more information, see www.ChangeItAll.org.

Who's hotter, Blanche or Dorothy? Figure it out tonight as you snuggle up with the fourth season of The Golden Girls. It's the best season yet, with Quentin Tarantino's TV debut as an Elvis impersonator, the girls' adventures with Cubans, and someone's getting married! Plus, meet Bob Hope and Julio Iglesias (hey, it was the '80s) in a bonus feature of top 10 guest stars. $39.99.

Make it a special gift as beauty in sight and sound come together in Tori Amos -- The Video Collection: Fade to Red. The two-disc set features such hits as "Silent all These Years" and "A Sorta Fairytale" with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, with audio commentary by Tori herself on each video. $24.98.

Romance your sweetie with global sensation Il Divo with their swoony number one album Ancora. The operatic pop quartet sings in four different languages of love, including "All By Myself (Solo Otra Vez)" and a poignant duet with Celine Dion in "I Believe In You (Je Crois En Toi)." $13.98. Available in stores.

Romancing the Stone

Getting a pearl necklace takes on a whole new meaning this Valentine's Day. Anandia offers stylish single-pearl and titanium necklaces for men. Available at Anandia Showroom, 377 E. Coast Hwy., Newport Beach. For more information, call (949) 200-7526, or see www.anandia.com.

Love and Pride jewelry designer Udi Behr creates the gifts that keep on giving with a heart-melting collection of jewelry inspired by Queer as Folk and The L Word. Give your guy a "Slave to Love" silver lock and key bracelet, and don't forget Behr's signature Love and Pride rings, for the committed couple that's ready to say, "I do." Available at www.loveandpride.com.

Kitsch is Sweet

Who needs Cupid when you can play with your very own lesbian? DykeDolls are the very first lesbian action figures, including the Rockabilly, the Doc Holiday, and the popular Diesel Dyke model. Run out and get your own portable dyke today! $49.95. Available at www.dykedolls.com.

Surprise your special guy with a rose. A thong rose! Undergear has created a too-cute-to-be-true package with a silk thong that will make your lover's cheeks blush rosy red. $20. Available at www.undergear.com.

Make it a night you won't forget with Suntouched, a three-in-one candle, moisturizer, and massage oil. Just light the candle till it melts, and then rub it on for your (and his) sensual pleasures. Ê$15.99. Available at www.earthlybody.com.

Cary Grant: Mr. Romance

The name is practically synonymous with movie romance. Twenty years after his death, Grant remains the quintessential male movie star. Charming, debonair, handsome, light-as-air, yet with a dark side just beneath the surface. His purported bisexuality -- check out those provocative photos from the '30s with his roommate Randolph Scott -- only adds to his mystique. Now some of Grant's best films are included in the Cary Grant Box Set, a five-disc collection that provides a perfect introduction to the uninitiated and a great gift idea for a longtime fan. The chief draw here is the DVD debut of 1938's Holiday, a sparkling screwball comedy that reteamed Grant with his Bringing Up Baby costar Katharine Hepburn. Helmed by gay director George Cukor, Holiday is one of the funniest films of the 1930s. Other films in the set include Grant's dramatic turn as a rugged airplane pilot opposite '30s golden girl Jean Arthur and a sultry young Rita Hayworth in Howard Hawks' adventure film Only Angels Have Wings. Grant reteamed with Arthur as a charming fugitive in director George Stevens' madcap farce The Talk of the Town. The actor had one of his biggest hits in 1937's The Awful Truth, an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. Grant costars with Irene Dunne as an about-to-be divorced couple who each go all out to ruin the other's plans for remarriage. The best film here is undoubtedly His Girl Friday, Howard Hawk's 1940 remake of The Front Page. Grant starred opposite the great Rosalind Russell in one of the fastest and funniest films ever made. Each disc in the set is loaded with featurettes and informative audio commentaries.

Want an enhanced, rolling orgasm that lasts five minutes, maybe longer? That's just the beginning, suggest the lesbian Tantric sex devotees in the documentary Hearts Cracked Open: Tantra for Women Who Love Women, who literally gush with excitement over the daily devotional practice that empowers them spiritually as well as sexually.

The film, recently released on DVD with over 50 minutes of bonuses, features "real" women from San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles who share their experiences individually and in workshops, as they decode the spiritual language ("yoni" means vagina, for instance), learn and practice the deep connection between the body's chakras, the breath of life, and an enhanced sexual pleasure that is it's own reward. Tantra, one woman says, is not "goal-oriented," as if "The Big O" is the only reason for sex.

Not the least pornographic, famed porno star-turned-sexologist Annie Sprinkle and Tantric Sex Healer Pamela Madison happily and graphically demonstrate how to enjoy Tantric sex alone (including female ejaculation) and with a partner. As part of the extra features, the two fully-clothed women illustrate how they practice "The Fire Breath Orgasm," which results in what appears to be several intense orgasms within the span of five minutes.

Indeed, the documentary seems designed almost as a how-to workshop caught on tape, complete with explanations of the origins of Tantric sex, why it is considered among devotees to be the ultimate mind-body-spirit connection leading to freedom of expression and healing through sexuality, and a step-by-step guide on the techniques. Suddenly that old Marvin Gaye song "Sexual Healing" seems less like a pick-up line than a therapeutic reality.

Not far below the surface of Hearts Cracked Open is the once subversive philosophy that a woman's control over her own enhanced and fulfilled sexuality is at the core of her personal freedom. As one practioner puts it, harnessing and experiencing that sexual energy allows you to "cultivate your spiritual pathÉand more wisdom will come through you."

Tantric sex, the film suggests, allows for a greater joy of intimacy between partners, a deeper relationship, when that sexual energy is communicated and shared. The documentary captures couples as they practice touching each other anew, gazing into the eyes of the other as a window on the soul, and breathe in synch, slowly and charged to arousal, moaning and emitting guttural sounds of pleasure. After watching the intimacy in their faces, the brief interviews about how Tantric sex has transformed their lives seems almost an unnecessary exclamation point.

But above all the accoutrements of Tantric philosophy, devotional practice, and testimonies of personal transformation, what is truly clear is that these women are having intimate, ecstatic, blissful sexual fun. And they want to share their joy with you through this award-winning film. www.heartscrackedopen.com -- Karen Ocamb