Pair a chef with southern charm and recipes tinged with love with someone who is eager to sample "love cooking" and the result is a real "tasty" interview. I had the opportunity to chat with Chef Jernard A. Wells and garner a true sense of what should really be cooking in the kitchen. Here's a sample of the goodies Chef Wells shared. If the way to a man's heart is through his stomach, then most of us have lost the map. Fortunately, one culinary expert has taken up the challenge to help us chart the way. Chef Jernard A. Wells, Sr. is affectionately known as the "Love Chef" and is paving the way by creating a culinary genre that is virtually untapped. This unique culinary style could easily be coined "love cooking". He is on a mission to find a spot on couples' kitchen shelves as well as their bedroom night stands with his new book 88 Ways to Her Heart: "Cooking for Lovers" From the Kitchen to the Bedroom. The Love Chef developed a passion for cooking as child when he realized that food is an integral part of people's emotions. This became very evident to him at the age of 13 when he prepared meals for his parents prospective romantic "date nights". He found that the combination of a little Luther Vandross and a gourmet meal had the potential to create a true sense of euphoria. And for those of us who have had the distinct pleasure of being seduced by the sultry sounds of "A House is not a Home" coupled with a tasty side dish know this to be true. The Love Chef's admiration for cooking grew more intense while watching his mother and father create different culinary masterpieces. This gave him the opportunity to overcome any fears he may have had regarding experimentation with flavors and textures. One dish actually won him honors by simple experimentation. Coined "Citrusy Love Chicken", this dish boasts chicken and fruit soaked in Jack Daniels for 16 hours. Chef Wells utilized a great deal of ingenuity by opting to forgo using any wood and simply relying on lighter fluid to grill the dish. He has become quite surprised yet thrilled with the concoctions he creates by simply stepping outside the culinary box. This realization could have very well been the catalyst for creating his latest cookbook, 88 Ways to Her Heart: "Cooking for Lovers" From the Kitchen to the Bedroom, that serves as a culinary roadmap to guide seasoned cooks as well as the culinary virgin through a love cooking venture. The Love Chef's motto is "food should taste as good as you feel" and his latest book is surely a testament. The Love Chef includes 88 recipes that are sure to tempt the palate of that special someone. Each recipe depicted in the book is preceded by a steamy poem and/or riddle sure to arouse the senses of even the coyest individual. The recipes all possess a playfully sexy title. Some of which include Spice Her Up Buffalo Wings, Moment of Passion Tomato Soup, and Toast to Our Love Champagne Chicken just to name a few. When asked if there was one love dish that has been the most well received, The Love Chef noted that "Knocking Boots Key Lime Chicken" has received the most notoriety and generates the most heat. So what inspired the book's interesting title? He indicated "The number 88 is significant within the title of my book because I have 8 children, I'm 28 years old, and I have been married 8 years." The Love Chef currently operates a restaurant called Moss's Place II. This by no means is his first restaurant venture. At the age of 16, he opened a restaurant in the confines of his mother's kitchen with a mere $50 dollars and quickly turned that into a profit of $500 weekly by tempting the taste buds of the entire neighborhood. He went on to pursue his second restaurant endeavor at an entertainment complex before venturing off to Memphis Culinary Academy School . After polishing his culinary skills he opened his third restaurant, The Picnic Basket and The Ultimate Picnic Basket. Catering to the supper club crowd as well as the family oriented atmosphere seekers, the theme for the restaurants was "we bring the park to you" and every dish had a picnic themed name. With many projects in the works, Chef Wells currently has a commercial debuting on BRAVO, The Food Network, MSNBC, and a host of other prominent channels. He also plans to release a spiritual cookbook in the near future that draws from fact that food is spoken about throughout the bible. He notes "while others seem to get burnt out in this industry, I feel I'm still blossoming. The one true key with anything is to always do it with love and if you put love in it you have | 
Chef Jernard Wells 
I vowed (to myself) I was done with the Valentine’s posts after this morning. The inundation of “buy this” and “do that” emails and phone calls is enough to keep a girl from doing more important things at work- like shopping online (kidding, kidding).