Gourmet gift baskets are a gift for senses, a gift to be shared between two people who enjoy food. Or they can be an opportunity to expand culinary horizons for people who haven't paid a lot of attention to food in past, or are content with fast foods or standard 'meat and two veg' meals. Either way you're in for a treat when you share a gourmet gift basket. An evening spent indulging senses in this way will certainly create a highly romantic mood.

If you haven't explored gourmet food world before, it's an excellent experience to share with your partner. You may change your eating habits forever and bring more pleasure into your life. Or you may decide it's not for you but you had a great time experimenting. Here's a story about some friends of ours who did exactly that.

When Terry met Alicia they were both university students. Alicia came from a Mediterranean family where olives, salamis and all sorts of interesting foods were part of family's diet. Terry came from an Anglo-Saxon family that ate very traditional foods. Dinner was generally meat, potatoes and a vegetable such as frozen beans or peas, with apple pie for dessert. By Alicia's standards, range of foods he consumed was extremely narrow.

When relationship became serious, they moved in together and began to share weekly food shopping. Alicia introduced Terry to a wider range of vegetables, including broccoli, zucchini and other squashes. He was surprised to find he enjoyed trying these new foods, and they soon began experimenting with massive array of raw vegetables used in salads.

Along with shopping at supermarket, Alicia had always visited local delicatessen for her treats. When Terry accompanied her, he reluctantly tried olives for first time. Again he became a fan, devouring green olives, black olives and pimento stuffed olives, with every kind of dressing. Terry and Alicia also had fun experimenting with cheeses, trying at least one new cheese every week. They rated cheese on a scale of 1 to 10, then decided which to include as a regular part of their diet.

In Alicia's family wine was served with meals so they began experimenting with different wines as well. Terry was strictly a beer drinker until he developed a taste for wine. Sharing a gourmet snack with wine became one of many pleasurable experiences they shared. And Terry was forever grateful to Alicia for introducing him to this new world of sensual delights.

Are there gastronomic worlds out there you've yet to explore? Take a trip to that ethnic grocery or restaurant today and discover what you're missing.

* The carbohydrates in chocolate raise serotonin levels in brain, resulting in a sense of well-being.

What Chocolate Won't Do:

* Studies show that chocolate is not a causative factor in acne.

* Cacao contains stimulants caffeine and bromine, but in such small quantities that they don't cause nervous excitability.

* Chocolate is not addictive.

* Chocolate contains stearic acid, a neutral fat which doesn't raise bad cholesterol.

* Chocolate doesn't make you 'high'. You'd need to eat a huge quantity (about 25lbs at one sitting) to feel any noticeable effect.

But On The Negative Side...

1. Chocolate may trigger headaches in migraine sufferers.

2. Milk chocolate is high in calories, saturated fat and sugar.

What About Chocolate And Your Pets?

* Chocolate is considered dangerous to animals because it contains a stimulant called theobromine, which they can't digest.

* Dark chocolate and baking chocolate are even more dangerous because they contain higher concentrations of substance.

This applies whether chocolate is in candy bar form, or an ingredient in cake, cookies, puddings or ice cream.

* If a pet becomes ill after eating chocolate, take it to vet immediately.

Dark Chocolate Versus Milk Chocolate:

Dark chocolate contains more cacao and less sugar than milk chocolate. It follows that any health benefits would be more pronounced in dark chocolate.

Dark chocolate is allowed on popular Montaignac diet while milk chocolate is not.

You'll need to do a little research if you have any health concerns about eating chocolate. But with products like gluten-free and sugar-free brands finding their way onto supermarket shelves, you're sure to find some form of chocolate you can enjoy with a clear conscience.