A Sweet Sweepstakes

Godiva Helps Rev Up The Romance

This Valentine’s Day, drive that special someone wild with a decadent gift and the chance to escape into luxury.

Godiva Chocolatier is paving the road to romance once again with its new "Symphony in Red" 2004 collection and an exhilarating promotion that gives lucky romantic the chance to win luxurious prizes.

The Valentine’s Day 2004 promotion offers a prize sure to make anyone’s heart race – the all-new BMW 6 Series Coupe (not yet available at U.S. dealerships) and a trip for two to attend the 6 Series Driving Experience at the BMW Performance Center in Spartanburg, South Carolina valued at more than $70,000.

One hundred other lucky winners will each receive a first prize romantic European getaway for two, each consisting of air transportation and hotel accommodations for five nights at a select Westin hotel of the winner’s choice.

Lucky prize winners in Godiva’s Valentine’s Day promotion could find winning prize certificates hidden inside eligible gift boxes (valued at $23 or above) from the chocolatier’s "Symphony in Red" 2004 collection. The promotion ends on Feb. 29.

This exciting promotion brings together two brands that combine elegance and style with a taste of luxury. "We wanted to orchestrate the perfect Valentine’s Day by offering couples an escape into luxury, with a stunning collection of indulgent chocolates and the chance to win prizes that couples can enjoy together," says Godiva Vice President of Marketing Michael Simon.

"The fact that the Grand Prize BMW 6 series is not yet widely available definitely adds to the excitement for that lucky winner!"

The Godiva Valentine’s Day 2004 Game begins in January when the "Symphony in Red" collection goes on sale everywhere Godiva chocolate is sold. No purchase necessary; to receive a free game piece (including official rules), send a self-addressed, stamped envelope postmarked by March 1, 2004 to "2004 Godiva Valentine’s Day Game," P.O. Box 14059, Bridgeport, CT 06673-4059. For more information, including official rules, log on to Godiva.com.

Engagement Ring Trends

Wedding Ring Tips

With Valentine’s Day approaching and love in the air, the borough’s jewelry stores are busy with orders – although the merchandise representing the ultimate profession of love hasn’t been flying off the shelves.

According to John Palmeri, co-owner of Gemelli Jewelers with locations in Maspeth and Ridgewood, this winter has not been a heavy engagement season. "Springtime is a busy time for engagements," Palmeri said.

But for those looking to pop the question in the coming months, Palmeri offered some simple tips on how to find the perfect diamond. First off, Palmeri said the customer has determined how much he wants to spend on the ring.

The industry standard is two months’ salary, and rings can start as low as $300 and go up to huge amounts. At Gemelli’s, rings can be as expensive as $10,000.

After that, the customer needs to choose the diamond-cut, metal and setting.

The most popular diamond choices for engagement rings these days, according to Palmeri, are the round and princess cuts – high brilliance cuts that create a noticeable shimmer. The average size of engagement diamonds purchased from Gemelli’s is between a carat and a carat and a half, Palmeri added.

According to Palmeri, the white metals are the biggest sellers lately and have been for the past few years. "When we sell a yellow gold item, we replace it with white. It’s what’s in demand," Palmeri said.

Once the metal is selected, the perfect setting for the bride-to-be must be determined. The setting is how the stones are placed in the engagement ring. According to a former jeweler, the available engagement ring settings are bezel, prong, chevron and invisible.

A bezel ring setting would reportedly be good for an active woman because it protects the diamond. Current engagement ring purchasers are going for more low-key, dainty mountings that emphasize the center stone, Palmeri said.

For individuals not looking to pop the big question this Valentine’s Day, diamond studs, heart pendants and heart bracelets are big Valentine’s Day sellers. Custom-made Eternity bands have also been in high demand for the past year.

Gemelli Jewelers are located at 69-13 Grand Ave. in Maspeth and 66-01 Fresh Pond Rd. in Ridgewood and can be reached at (718) 446-5600 and (718) 628-9767. Operating hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Selling Sweet Treats

Sweet Treats For Queens Romantics

By Aaron Rutkoff

As a fourth generation chocolate maker, Mark Lazar k

Mark Lazar doesn’t know why chocolate is connected to Valentine’s Day, but still offers dozens of heart shaped boxes of chocolate for the holiday. Tribune Photo by Aaron Rutkoff

nows virtually everything about creating delicious confections.

His Bayside outlet – Lazar’s Chocolate in the Bay Terrace Shopping Center – features a dizzying and mouth-watering array of chocolate varieties based on closely guarded family recipes, and he boasts intimate knowledge of each type of treat.

But Lazar cannot shed any light on the time-honored connection between Valentine’s Day and chocolaty gifts. "It is probably the busiest two single days of the year," he said. When asked to explain how chocolate became the food of romance, Lazar admitted, "I have no idea."

If chocolate expresses affection, Lazar’s Chocolates offers hundreds of ways to say I love you. The iconic heart-shaped box filled with chocolates, a popular gift for Valentine’s Day, comes in eight different styles, ranging from a basic one-pound box ($26.50) to a two-pound satin-covered beauty ($58).

"We pack these ourselves with our candy, as opposed to the stuff you might find at CVS or something," explained Lazar. "The formulas that we are using are unique, they are our own and they go back all the way in the family."

Chocolate roses – sold individually or by the dozen – and heart-shaped mini chocolates are also snapped up by eager romantics in the run up to Valentine’s Day, Lazar said.

But if the love motif is too much for you to bear, but you still want to dazzle that special someone with a sweet gift, Lazar suggests making a selection from the massive chocolate display case at the store. "I always recommend for people to have a box made of their favorites," he said, "and we can always wrap it in heart paper."

Speaking of favorites, Lazar named the nuttier chocolates as his personal choice – including almond bark, nut patties, and butter crunch.

Lazar’s Chocolates also offers another way to personalize your sweet gift. At the store, customers can design their own personalized wrappers for eight ounce chocolate bars ($10 each). Orders as small as one bar can be accommodated, Lazar said.

Selling chocolate to hopeful romantics does shed some light on the inner workings of love, even if Lazar can’t put his finger on the chocolate-romance nexus. "We hear it all for Valentine’s Day, we hear every story," Lazar said.

Bridal Boot Camp

Boot Camp For Brides

For soon-to-be brides, tracking down something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue is besides the point. On the big wedding night, what really matters is looking beautiful – and that means feeling good about the way you look.

Gold’s Gym in Astoria understands the importance of feeling fit and confident in your physique as you march down the aisle, and has created a special workout regime designed especially for brides-to-be.

Gold’s trainer Cynthia Condi runs the Bridal Boot Camp program, in which brides train and trim down under her one-on-one supervision during the weeks leading up to their wedding night. According to Gold’s officials, Bridal Boot Camp focuses on the exercises needed to slim down and look great in your wedding dress.

Several Bridal Boot Camp packages are available, with varying numbers of sessions in each. That means brides who have procrastinated still have a chance to shape up with a three-session package ($165). Five trips to boot camp cost $250, 10 sessions cost $480 and 20 sessions run $900.

Gold’s Gym is located 38-01 35th Ave. in Astoria. For more information on Bridal Boot Camp, call (718) 472-4455.

Valentines For Vets

Helping Vets Have A Happy Holiday

By Raynelle Cerica Bull

Senator Malcolm Smith and Assemblywoman Ann-Margaret Carrozza will be making Valentine’s Day a little happier for hospitalized veterans at the St. Albans Hospital and State Veterans Nursing Home with the help of the community.

Last year, State Senator Malcolm Smith presented vets with cards and gifts for Valentine’s Day, and this year, is asking for donations to do the same thing. Photo by Lester Muse

The Queens officials are holding separate Valentine’s Day veterans donation drives.

Smith is sponsoring his fourth annual "Send a Vet a Valentine" gift program in conjunction with HealthFirst, Health Plus and Team One Hundred. Donations of new pieces of clothing, non-alcohol-based toiletries and pre-paid calling cards are delivered to the senator’s office where they are gift-wrapped.

According to the Lester Muse, veteran liaison for Smith’s office, the senator receives a list of the veterans’ requests from the Department of Veterans Affairs, and he informs the community of the requested items. Students from Queens elementary schools also donate pictures that they have drawn and cards they hav emade to the hospitalized individuals.

The gifts will be wrapped at the senator’s office and Smith will take the presents to the hospital and nursing home on Feb. 12, where they will be delivered to the various wards.

"This is the only Valentine some of the veterans get. We want them to know some people are thinking about them," Smith said.

According to Smith, this year’s donations are the largest in the history of the program, and he attributes the generous response to the attention that veterans have received in the past year.

"We love [the soldiers] when they go away, and when they come back we forget about them. They are finally getting their due," said Smith.

Smith’s office will be collecting donations up until Feb. 11, and any donations received after the deadline will still be dropped of at the hospital for the veterans to use when needed.

Donations can be dropped off at Smith’s office, located at 205-19 Linden Blvd. in St. Albans, Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. For further information, call (718) 528-4290.

Carrozza will also be honoring Queens veterans with her second annual "Valentines for Vets" program.

Carrozza’s office will be collecting clothing, socks, toothpaste and bathrobes. "Your donation of a card or a box of candy will help show hospitalized veterans how much we appreciate the sacrifices they made for us," Carrozza said.

According to Richard Rapp, Carrozza’s director of Constituent Affairs, sugar-free candy is preferred.

Rapp also said that Carrozza’s office tries to accommodate all of the veterans in the hospital and nursing home.

Her office is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. For further information and to volunteer in the distribution of the gifts call (718) 321-1525.

Tips From A Queens Author

Queens Author Offers Love Advice

By Kathleen Melville

Valentine’s Day is on the way, and most lovesick couples are happily hustling and bustling as they get ready to celebrate their love with flowers, candy, gifts and kisses.

Need some help with your love life? Check out How To Be Cherished by a former Queens resident.

For the borough’s unhappy couples stuck in a rut, however, Valentine’s Day isn’t exactly the happiest of holidays – unless the couples take some action.

Former Forest Hills resident Marilyn Graman has joined forces with Maureen Walsh to write the book How To Be Cherished: A Guide to Having the Love You Desire, a book reaching out to women who are in an unhappy relationship, but are not willing to give up on it just yet.

Graman and Walsh offer many tips in their book to help struggling partners rekindle what used to be wonderful. "[This book] is for women in relationships and also to women who have recently broken up with someone," said Graman. "[It is also for] women who haven’t been in a relationship in a while."

Chapter by chapter, the book gives women new ways to open up to their partner by focusing on themselves first. Graman reminds women that they are in control of the relationship, and it is in their power to guide their partnership in a way that will cherish both parties.

Questions that are answered throughout the book include: How do you get your partner to stop taking you for granted, how does your past influence obscure what’s going on now in our relationship; why is it that we attract someone who reinforces and repeats the most challenging aspects of our history in relationship; and many more mysterious inquiries.

Graman, who lived in Queens from 1955 to 1979, attended Forest Hills High School and then went on to Queens College. She taught kindergarten in P.S. 160 in South Jamaica from 1966 to 1978.

This guide is Graman and Walsh’s third book together. They are also co-founders of Life Works Books, a Greenwich Village firm that helps women find their Mr. Right and keep him "right," even through the challenges of living together.

The book can be purchased at Amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com, or in any major book store.

Love And Comedy

First Comes Cupid, Then Comes Laughter

By Azi Paybarah

Finding something fun and exciting to do the weekend after Valentine’s Day can be tough. How can anyone equal the romance and enjoyment of Feb. 14?

Well, to make sure love – and laughter – are still in the air, Astoria’s own Lionhearted Player’s Club and other local artists will perform at the Undercroft Performance Space.

The Lionhearted Players Club is a comedic acting troupe that regularly performs in Manhattan hot spots, including Danny’s Skylight Room Cabaret. On Feb. 21, the players will host a "sweet heart of an afternoon," complete with candy, flowers, chocolate, Red Hots and love poems.

There will be an open mic session, as well. The entire afternoon is meant to bring love and fun back for one more weekend.

Poets Yarrow Reagan and Ella Smith will co-host the open-mic portion of the event, in which all are invited to participate. Reagan, a Queens-based poet, last year penned the line "this poem is my 911 call" for a protest against cutbacks in library funding. Smith’s poetry has been performed on WNYE and anthologized in authentichair.com.

The Lionhearted Players started as an acting workshop on the East Side of Manhattan, but has grown into a professional comedy troupe. They are led by Powell Leonard, the group’s founder, and rehearse for hours for each performance.

The group is three-years-old, and includes a group of actors who perform monthly around the Manhattan comedy club circuit. It’s the shows in Queens, however, where the group usually picks up new recruits, according to Leonard, so up-and-coming actors should check out a show.

Although the focus of their upcoming show is love, the Players have done previous sketches and shows on a number of different subjects.

For example, one comedy act involved a cannibal who is caught eating his coworkers and reprimanded for not having a permission slip to do so. Another one involved soccer moms discussing the benefits of surgically adding a third leg to enhance their daughter’s athletic performance. A third skit surrounded a desperate actor who is cast in the role of a soon to be indicted senator.

The Feb. 21 show will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Undrecroft Performance Space, part of the Trinity Lutheran Church, located at 31-18 37th Street.

To sign up to perform, or for more information on the Feb. 21 show, contact ellasmith@earthlink.net or call (718) 482-8790.

For more information about the Lionhearted Player’s Club, visit www.LionHeartedPlayers.com.

Keeping Flowers Fresh

Keeping Romance, And Flowers, Alive

By Azi Paybarah

The flowers are coming.

Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, has brought with it the one-day demand for long-stemmed eloquent examples of affection.

But keeping alive that floral gift has eluded many.

Third generation florist Tony Nunziato of Enchanted Florist in Maspeth – a relative of City Councilman Eric Gioia and the owner of Nunziato Florist in Woodside –said the first step in keeping flowers that have been presented on Feb. 14 alive is shopping at a florist you trust.

He said, "Would you buy steak off a peddler? No. Or steak off someone who doesn’t handle meat?"

He added, "Most of your flowers come from out of state [like] Denver or California. They do a lot of traveling. A florist, a real florist, knows how to hydrate and condition them…[so the flowers could] last longer than a day."

He said the first thing to look for when selecting roses are flowers that are closed. He said, "Anything that’s tight will last longer."

Second, he said to look for flowers with "vibrant deep colors. If they look wilted, they’re not properly hydrated." Look out for flowers with "black edges, any kind of darkness, or frost." That decay will only get worst when brought home, he said.

The next step is once the flowers are home, treat them well.

"The biggest killer of flowers is bacteria." The water that flowers are placed into must be "fresh [and at] room temperature." If the stems must be cut to fit the vase, "make sure they have no leaves in the water." Leaves or pedals submerged in water "start to decay, and create bacteria."

Next step, play it cool.

"Heat ages flowers," said Nunziato. "Don’t put flowers on top of the television," above the fireplace or in direct sunlight. Ideally, flowers should be in a place that is "cool to room temperature."

Once they’re cool, Nunziato said to feed them flower food.

"Floral preservatives, the little package of food" that should be given with your purchase, "are the nutrients the flower is looking for."

If your local florist is out of roses, Nunziato said don’t panic.

Nunziato said, "The next best thing is a bouquet of spring flowers." He recounted how early Europeans considered tulips prestigious, which led to the phrase "a kingdom for a tulip." Nunziato suggested "Lilies, lilacs" or anything that brings to mind "a burst of spring on a cold day."

And for those unconvinced by flower power, Nunziato said a flower "shows the love and it’s a big memory maker."

Enchanted Florist is located at 65-10 Grand Avenue, Maspeth. For more information call, (718) 326-4288.

Baking With Love

Baking With Heart

Valentine’s Day may be targeted to adults, but that doesn’t mean kids can’t have some fun..

Alley Pond Environmental Center (APEC) is offering a "Sweet Valentine" workshop for kids ages six to 12 on Feb. 8.

The workshop – which will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. for kids six to seven and from 8 to 9 p.m. for kids eight to 12 – will give kids the chance to prepare, cut and bake heart shaped cookies for the lovey dovey holiday.

The young chefs will even get to decorate the cookies in a "hug of homemade frosting," according to APEC.

All of the materials needed are provided by APEC.

The workshops cost $13 for members and $17 for non-members. Each workshop is limited to only 12 kids, so APEC asks that participants pre-register at (718) 229-4000.

APEC is located at 228-06 Northern Blvd. in Douglaston.

Music From The Heart

A Concert For Lovers

By Kathleen Melville

What could be better on Valentine’s Day than the sweet sound of romantic opera music?

Those who attend a Valentine’s Day concert featuring Daniel Rodriguez will be entered into a contest to win a free hotel stay and candlelight dinner.

How about sweet romantic opera music accompanied by chocolate covered strawberries, champagne, a deluxe hotel suite, roses, breakfast for two the next day, and a host of other things – all for free?

It’s all possible, thanks to the Queens Symphony orchestra.

The organization is presenting famed tenor Daniel Rodriguez in a Valentine’s Day concert called, "Music Of The Heart" at Queensborough Community Concert in Bayside. The Brooklyn-born man known as "the singing policeman" because of his work with the New York City Police Deparment will perform hits from his CD "From My Heart," which is filled with well-known love songs.

But music isn’t all the love-struck members of the audience will receive.

Every ticket to the concert comes with the chance to win a romantic prize package, courtesy of the Queens Symphony Orchestra and the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel.

The package includes a limo ride from the concert to the Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel, where the winners will enjoy a free evening in a deluxe hotel suite complete with a romantic candlelight dinner, prepared by a chef in their room.

Add a bottle of champagne and chocolate dipped strawberries, along with a dozen long-stemmed red roses, special seating at the concert, breakfast for two the next morning and a limo ride home and you’re all set.

The winners of the prize will be announced at the concert, so everyone – even those who buy tickets at the door – will have a chance to win.

The concert will take place at 7 p.m. on Feb. 14 at the Queensborough Community College Performing Arts Center at 56th Avenue and Springfield Boulevard in Bayside. All tickets are $30.

For more information, call the QSO Office at (718) 326-4455 or visit the website www.queenssymphony.org.

Romantic Recipes

Cooking Up Something Special – And Sweet

Looking to make Valentine’s Day a little sweeter – and personal – this year? Then make a homemade dessert for that special someone. The following recipes from Better Homes and Gardens are guaranteed to keep Valentine’s Day sweet and delicious.

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Bars

Ingredients

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cheese Cake Bars

One 18-ounce package of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

One eight-ounce package of cream cheese or reduced fat cream cheese, softened

One-third cup sugar

One egg

One tablespoon of instant coffee crystals

One teaspoon vanilla

One-half cup of miniature semisweet chocolate pieces

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Crumble the cookie dough into a 13 by nine by two inch baking pan. Press evenly onto bottom of pan; set aside. Combine the cream cheese, sugar, and egg in a medium mixing bowl; beat by hand until smooth. Stir together the coffee crystals, vanilla, and one teaspoon water in a small bowl or custard cup until crystals are dissolved. Stir coffee mixture into cream cheese mixture.

Spread evenly over dough; sprinkle with chocolate pieces. Bake for 20 minutes or until completely set. Cool in pan on a wire rack; cut into bars. Makes 36 bars.

Double Chocolate Baby Lava Cakes

Ingredients

Three-fourths cup of butter

Six ounces of semisweet chocolate pieces

Three eggs

Three egg yolks

One-third cup of sugar

One and one-half teaspoons vanilla

One-third cup all-purpose flour

Three tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

One-third cup of pecan halves, toasted.

One-half cup of sugar

One-third cup packed brown sugar

Two tablespoons dark colored corn syrup

Half-cup whipping cream

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour six one to one and one-fourth-cup soufflý dishes or six 10-ounce custard cups. Place soufflý dishes or custard cups in a shallow baking pan and set pan aside. In a heavy small saucepan melt butter and semisweet chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool.

Prepare praline sauce by, in a heavy medium saucepan, combining 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup packed brown sugar and two tablespoons dark colored corn syrup. Stir in 1/2 cup whipping cream. Cook over medium-high heat until boiling, stirring constantly to dissolve sugar. Reduce heat. Cook, uncovered, 10 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally. Makes one cup sauce.

In a large mixing bowl beat eggs, egg yolks, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer on high speed about five minutes or until thick and lemon colored. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture on medium speed. Sift flour and cocoa over chocolate mixture; beat on low speed just until combined. Divide batter evenly into prepared dishes or cups.

Bake 10 minutes. Pull cakes out of oven. Using a small spatula or table knife, puncture top of each partially-baked cake and gently enlarge to make a dime-sized hole. Slowly spoon about 1 tablespoon Praline Sauce into center of each cake. Return cakes to oven. Bake five minutes more or until cakes feel firm at the edges.

Cool in dishes on a wire rack for five minutes. Using a small spatula or knife, loosen cake edges from sides of dish or cup and slip cake out upright onto individual dessert plates. Stir 1/3 cup toasted pecan halves into the remaining Praline Sauce. If necessary, stir one to two tablespoons hot water into remaining sauce to thin. Spoon warm Praline Sauce on top of cakes. Top with pecan halves and sweetened whipped cream. Serve immediately. Makes six servings.

Chocolate Rum Truffles

Ingredients

Six ounces of semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

One-fourth cup butter

Three tablespoons of rum, brandy or whipping cream

One pound chocolate-flavored candy coating, chopped

Finely chopped pistachio nuts (optional)

Vanilla-flavored or pink candy coating, melted, for decorating (optional)

Combine chocolate, butter, and the 3 tablespoons whipping cream in a heavy 2-quart saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until chocolate is melted (about 10 minutes). Remove saucepan from heat. Gradually stir about half of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolk. Return egg mixture to saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about two minutes or until slightly thickened. Remove saucepan from heat.

Stir in rum, brandy, or whipping cream. Transfer chocolate mixture to a small mixing bowl. Chill about one hour or until mixture is room temperature and smooth, stirring occasionally.

Beat the cooled chocolate mixture with an electric mixer on medium speed about two minutes or until slightly fluffy. Chill about 15 minutes or until mixture holds its shape. Drop mixture from a rounded teaspoon onto a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Chill about 30 minutes more or until firm. Shape into smooth balls with hands, working quickly so the truffles don’t get too soft.

Bring water to boiling in the bottom of a double boiler or a saucepan. Remove from heat. Place chopped chocolate-flavored candy coating in top of double boiler or in a heatproof bowl and set over the boiling water, making sure the bottom of the top pan is not touching the water. Stir frequently until coating melts.

Drop truffles, one at a time, into melted candy coating; turn truffles with a large, long-tine fork to coat. Lift truffle out with the fork without piercing the centers; draw fork across rim of pan to remove excess coating. Invert truffles onto a waxed-paper-lined baking sheet. If desired, twist fork slightly as candy falls to make a swirl on top.

Let dipped truffles dry until candy coating hardens.

A Speedy Way To Date

A Speedy Way To Find True Love

By Angela Montefinise

For 33-year-old Bayside resident Jay Rosensweig, dating is a fast-paced game – literally.

Singles of all ages can meet their matches while speed dating.

Rosensweig, an internet researcher by day, is the founder of Weekend Dating.com, a company that brings speed dating – a new phenomenon in the singles world – to people in Nassau County, Queens and Brooklyn.

The company – which originally was called Long Island Speed Dating.com – is celebrating its one-year anniversary on Valentine’s Day, and Rosensweig said, "Most businesses fail in the first year. This one has been successful. I turned a profit, and we’ve brought many people together . . . I can’t complain."

Rosensweig, who is the company’s only employee, holds about two events per month in Queens, and he said, "I’m looking to expand into Queens a bit more. I’m a Queens guy, born and bred, so I want to stick to my roots . . . I started in Long Island last year, and came into Queens last July. So now I want to look at Queens and also Brooklyn a bit more."

Speed dating events are simple – an almost equal number of men and women preregister and prepay to attend. Rosensweig said, "I have them prepay because if they get nervous, they’re much less likely to run out of there if they have already paid."

Men and women are given nametags and "scorecards," and are then paired. Each couple talks for four to five minutes, and circle "yes" or "no" on their scorecards. Then Rosensweig blows a whiste, and the men move on to the next woman. This repeats until everyone has met each other.

Rosensweig said, "Everyone is nervous the first time. The first few people they talk to, maybe the first one or two, they’re shaky. But then by the end, it’s like night and day. Everyone has a lot of fun, and they meet a lot of different and interesting people."

At the end of the night, everyone turns in their scorecards to Rosensweig, who takes them home and analyzes them to see if there were any matches – people who circled "yes" for each other. According to Rosensweig, 70 to 80 percent of people who attend have at least one match.

He then emails everyone their matches the next day, along with their matches’ email addresses so they can contact each other. He said, "I have heard so many success stories. People who are living together and really happy. I haven’t heard of any marriages yet, but we’re only a year old."

The Queens events are usually held at the Sly Fox Inn on Union Turnpike in Fresh Meadows because "I like to pick places where there’s activity so after the event, people can stay and have a bite to eat or a drink and dance and get to know people better."

Rosensweig’s speed dating events are organized by age group, with the women always being a bit younger than the men. For example, one age group brings together men ages 40 to 56 and women ages 38 to 53. Rosensweig said, "That’s just from experience. I want people to get the best matches. Women like older, men like a bit younger."

He said the said the events for people in their 30s and 40s are "very popular." He said, "I would love to do these for people who are older, and I get so many calls from women, but I don’t get the calls from men."

Rosensweig, an internet researcher by day who is still searching for "the right woman," founded speed dating last year after he discovered that all of his friends were getting married. He said, "They were dropping like flies. I decided it was time for me to go out and meet some people."

Most of Rosensweig’s events cost $35 and host about 20 people. Events are posted online at www.weekenddating.com.

There’s an event on Feb. 7 at the Sly Fox Inn at 7:45 p.m. for men ages 40 to 56 and women ages 38 to 53, or call him at (718) 757-6933.

Find A Woman For Bob

The Tribune’s Reality Dating Contest:
Finding A Woman For A Queens Average ‘Bob’

For Glen Oaks resident Bob B., the New York dating scene isn’t exactly a perfect world.

The Trib is setting up Bob B. (above) with a few lucky women, reality show style.

Bob, a middle-aged Queens native and chief financial officer for a prominent Queens company, is searching for a long-lasting meaningful relationship, but finds that many of the women he meets aren’t on the same page.

"I’ve gone to these singles things. I’ve found women who have 16-year-old kids and they just want a good time, you know. That’s not what I’m into at all . . . I’m looking for a nice woman."

Well, in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, the Tribune has decided to help out a nice guy. We’re bringing the women to Bob – reality show style.

Bob, who has had his share of girlfriends but has yet to find "the right one," is making himself available in the Tribune’s "Find A Woman For Bob" contest.

Women interested in the New York University graduate should print and fill out the following coupon with a photo and send it as soon as possible to 174-15 Horace Harding Expressway in Fresh Meadows, NY 11365.

Web-savvy women can also email the information on the coupon with a photo or photos to editor@queenstribune.com with the subject line "Bob."

The Tribune will send Bob on dates with the women who are most compatible with him, and will document each date with photos and follow-up comments. Bob will then choose the woman who he would most like to ride off into the sunset with.

It’s the prospect of true love – what could be better than that?

As for Bob, who declined to give his age, he is an Aquarius who describes himself as "handsome with a good personality." He currently lives in Queens, but has traveled extensively, and lived in Los Angeles for four years.

He enjoys skiing, bike riding and going to the movies.

Although he usually dates white, non-Jewish women, he is setting no limitations, and said, "I would like to meet a woman who is interesting."