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Trend Watch: Get ready for Valentine’s Day

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“Bring back that loving feeling,” so the song says, and with Valentine’s Day here, there are plenty of ways to do that. Here are just a few ideas.

The Californian at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa has a special menu for the big night for $65 per person, or $85 with wine pairing. The meal is four courses and features dishes such as chilled oyster shooter, endive salad, crispy duck leg and chocolate raspberry tart, according to a news release.

The Californian is inside Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa at 21500 Pacific Coast Hwy., Huntington Beach. To make a reservation, call (714)-698-1234.

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The Resort at Pelican Hill has a variety of offerings, including create-your-own getaway packages, which include one night in a Bungalow guest room, bottle of sparkling Prosecco, chocolate-dipped strawberries, rose petal turndown, continental breakfast in bed and a list of romantic places to kiss at Pelican Hill. Other options include what the resort calls “Treatment for Two,” a couples’ red pomegranate seasonal body gelato 50-minute treatment, romantic bath for two, spa cuisine lunch and Crystal Cove Fitness walk, according to a press release.

There’s also the “Tee Time for Two,” where couples can play an ocean-view golf round, complete with a professional fore caddie and golf cart. Or couples can take advantage of the “Table for Two” package, where they can enjoy a wine-paired dinner at the resort’s restaurant, Andrea, and handmade truffle by the pastry chef and a bottle of Prosecco.

Packages start at $795 per night.

There are also several Valentine’s Day dinner specials at the resort. More information is at pelicanhill.com. Resort at Pelican Hill is at 22701 Pelican Hill Road South, Newport Coast.

Looking for something more than just dinner? Just in time for V-day is “He Said/She Said,” the Broadway duo of Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley and part of the Segerstrom Center’s Cabaret series, hits the Samueli Theater Feb. 14 to 16.

The performance, called “a musical conversation that features brand new arrangements by many of the Great American Songbook’s leading composers” such as Fats Waller, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and Sammy Cahn, according to a news release. Ballads to be performed include “Something’s Gotta Give,” “Too Close for Comfort,” “Come Back to Me,” and “Love Me or Leave Me.”

For tickets or more information, go to scfta.org.

A four-course, wine-paired dinner is offered at Laguna Canyon Winery for those who are interested in what the winery calls “an epicurean adventure in our barrel/tasting room with our barrel/tasting room with our award-winning crafted boutique wines,” according to a news release.

Choose from two dates: Feb. 14 with classical pianist Linda Fuller or Feb. 15 with saxophonist Charles Hayes. The dinner includes Burt and Raspberry Sparkling Wine paired with cheeses, bread and fruit; 2011 Los Carneros Pinot Grigio with sweet chile ginger, marinated prawns, with fresh seaweed salad; choice of pan seared filet mignon or pan seared sea bass with baby carrots, green beans and roast garlic mashed potatoes with caramelized sweet red onions paired with 2009 Rockpile Malbec or 2010 Russian River Valley Chardonnay; and for dessert, a choice of flowerless chocolate cake, fresh raspberry Moscato Coulis or vanilla bean gelato paired with 2011 California Moscato, according to a news release.

Cost is $151.25, including tax and service charge. Laguna Canyon Winery is at 2133 Laguna Canyon Road in Laguna Beach. More information is at lagunacanyonwinery.com.

Lucca in Irvine has a Valentine’s edition of its Sunday Supper from 3 to 6 p.m. Sunday. Guests will enjoy a first plate, second plate, third plate and dessert.

“My earliest memories of food were of the love-filled Sunday dinners at my grandparents’ house in the 1950s in Huntington Beach,” chef Cathy Pavolos, who opened LUCCA with her husband, Elliott, more than seven years ago, said in a prepared statement. “We all sat around a big table — anywhere from 10 to 30 people — and all of us ate until our hooves fell off. The courses would just keep coming out of the kitchen and the colors, textures, smells and flavors were so vivid, it is impossible to not remember them. That is what I aim to recreate with my Sunday Suppers at LUCCA.”

Cost is $65 per person. For reservations (they must be made by Friday), call (949) 725-1773. Lucca is in the Quail Hill Village Center, 6507 Quail Hill Parkway, in Irvine.

As if there weren’t enough options, Prego Ristorante’s Executive Chef Ugo Allesina is creating a four-course dinner, complete with a Grand Marnier molten chocolate cappuccino mouse cake for dessert. The meal, called a Valentine’s Lover’s Menu, costs $120 per couple, according to a news release.

First course choices are Romeo y Julieta (fresh ahi tuna, Dungeness crab meat, avocado and mango with sweet chili and balsamic) or carpaccio gran paradiso (beef tenderloin with organic arugula and shaved parmigiano with a truffle vinaigrette), second course of linguine sapori amoroso (flat ribbon pasta with shrimp and lobster meat in a spicy tomato sauce) or coure a coure (heart-shaped ravioli pasta filet with scallops and shrimp in a creamy Champagne sauce), and the third course of rambo d’ Veronica (Alaskan halibut topped with lobster crab sauce with garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables) or filleto alla cupido (beef tenderloin with chanterelle mushroom ragout with garlic mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables).

More information is at pregoristoranti.com. Prego is at 18420 Von Karman Ave. in Irvine. Call (949) 553-1333 to make reservations.

SOL Cocina is breaking the Valentine’s Day mold with aphrodisiac cocktails. Check out the Amor y Tequila, a guava margarita with Corralejo Blanco Shaken in to a martini glass with Clase Azul La Pinta pomegranate-infused watermelon ice cubes.

Or how about the Copa de Amor, a margarita for two; essentially a frozen margarita served in a bulldog schooner with choice of Chambord or La Pinta floater, according to a news release.

There is also the Farmer’s Market Aphrodisiac Margarita, a lavender-and-hibiscus margarita with Don Juilio Blanco, fresh lime juice, lavender-infused simple syrup and chef Deborah Schneider’s hibiscus flower infusion.

The restaurant also has special dinner specials for that day. More information is at solcocina.com. Sol Cocina is at 251 E. Pacific Coast Hwy. in Newport Beach. Make reservations by calling (949) 675-9800.

Of course, nothing is more romantic than the Pageant of the Masters in Laguna, and tickets are on sale for this year’s show, “The Big Picture.”

The Pageant run July 7 through Aug. 31 and tickets cost $14 through Feb. 14 for performances Sunday through Thursday, according to a news release.

“The Big Picture “will feature “a cinematic spin to its world-class presentation with classic masterpieces that inspired legendary filmmakers,” according to the release. It “will time-travel and go on location around the globe in search of unforgettable art.”

“It doesn’t get more romantic than watching the Pageant of the Masters under the stars,” Festival of Arts spokeswoman Sharbie Higuchi said in a prepared statement. “Tickets to this year’s show make a fun and unexpected gift for art lovers, movie buffs, or anyone you’d like to share a memorable and one-of-a-kind experience with.”

Plus, a pageant ticket gives a person unlimited admission to the Festival of Arts, which runs all summer. Pageant of the Masters is on the Festival’s grounds, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. For tickets go to pageanttickets.com or call (800) 487-3378.

ALISHA GOMEZ is the managing editor of the Coastline Pilot and Huntington Beach Independent. She can be reached at (714) 966-4618 or alisha.gomez@latimes.com.

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