MAY

The following luxury homes and condos came on the market the second and third weeks of March:

Valentine's Day may have passed, but who says you can only have a romantic evening out on Feb. 14? St. Louis has plenty of places where you and your significant other can have a fine meal and pitch some woo all year long. Here are a few of our favorites:

Weighing in at more than 300 pounds, Eric Morff was very unhappy. He couldn’t sleep in the same bed as his wife because his weight-induced snoring kept her up at night. He always found an excuse to not exercise, and spent the weekend sleeping because he was so tired. And he never had the energy to chase his 4-year-old son or 2-year-old daughter around the house. Morff’s weight was disrupting many parts of his life, and through the encouragement of his wife and mother, he finally decided to seek help. Recalling information about weight-loss coach Charles D’Angelo from a previous Ladue News article, he made the call in September 2011 that would change his life. “Charles helped me understand that I was ready to lose the weight, why I was ready and what was important to me: my wife, my children and myself,” Morff says. “I needed to make this change for them and for myself.”

HELEN FLETCHER, currently the pastry chef at Tony's downtown and formerly of the beloved Truffles, as well as and a longtime fixture on the local culinary scene, has released a new cookbook, European Tarts: Divinely Doable Desserts With Little Or No Baking, and an accompanying blog, europeantarts.com. The tome is available at Amazon.com and on Kindle, and features photographs by the author’s husband, T. MIKE FLETCHER.

The meat lovers’ pizza from a Sicilian joint in Louisville was one of Mike Brangle’s weaknesses. On the road all the time as a consultant in the financial services industry, he had a routine, ordering his favorite meals from the same restaurants in each city. With a busy work life, Brangle’s food intake increased while his exercise habits decreased. By October 2011, he weighed 348 pounds. “When you’re at that weight, you’re very self-conscious of how you look and what other people think of you,” he says. “But since I had lost weight in the past, I always thought, Oh, tomorrow, I’ll start losing it. But tomorrow never came.”

When Charles D’Angelo was 17 years old, he had a realization that would change the course of his life, as well as the lives of many others. He weighed 360 pounds—with a 50-inch waist—and was a victim of bullying at school. “It was difficult for me to make it up a flight of stairs,” he recalls. “I had no social relationships, and I would come home from school in tears because I felt that everything was out of control.” He adds that his father’s side of the family had a history of being overweight and suffered from diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.

For a spectacular panoramic overlook of St. Louis, 360 can’t be beat. Perched atop the Hilton downtown, there’s hardly a spot in the restaurant that doesn’t offer a superlative vista to gaze upon. We dropped in recently to see if the menu matched the view.

The Zodiac restaurant, located in Neiman Marcus, has debuted a new menu celebrating the St. Louis Cardinals. Redbird-centric items include Saint Louis Beer & Cheese Soup, Ball Park Chili, Triple Play Slider Plate, Batter Up Bistro Burger and a Cardinal Red Velvet Cupcake, among other delicacies.

If you own a small business or you’re considering a new venture, you might want to keep the phone number to the nearest SCORE office on your speed dial. Established in 1964, SCORE is a national organization (a partner of the Small Business Administration), with more than 360 chapters around the county and four local offices, that offers free counseling to anyone who wants to start or grow a business. “Our experience, knowledge and the fact that it’s all free makes SCORE appealing to any small business owner,” says Bob Boles, a volunteer with the nonprofit.

Best Local Coffee House

Once again, Ladue News readers have proven that they’re in the know about our town’s most exciting hot spots! This year’s Platinum List features iconic St. Louis institutions, as well as some new spots you’ll be wanting to check out.

George Washington and a parade of lamp-lit banners of all 44 presidents greeted us as we turned onto the steep, winding Driveway of the Presidents leading up to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.

Do your children’s summer plans include lying around and playing video games all day? These area organizations offer unique opportunities for young people to get off the couch and stay active and adventurous throughout the summer months.

Entire bookstore aisles are devoted to the subject, and every January those aisles are populated by people seeking help with a New Year’s resolution, perhaps the same one they’ve made for many years.

For many families needing to haul lots of people and cargo, the size, comfort and versatility of an SUV often is the perfect solution. An appealing new entry to the field, which is really a re-entry after a short absence, is the Dodge Durango. Sporting a modern, attractive exterior and tons of interior room and conveniences, the Durango, especially in its top-of-the-line Citadel trim, seems to have it all.

Here’s a ‘happy’ thought…The 28th season of PARTIES IN THE PARK, one of the area’s original outdoor happy hour events, is coming soon! But there’s a big change this year: The event is moving out of Shaw Park onto the streets of downtown Clayton. The new setting on Meramec Avenue between Forsyth Boulevard and Maryland Avenue will include a live music stage, lounge furniture, drinks and food offerings from area restaurants. Parties in the Park begins May 11, and will be held every second Wednesday of the month through September.

The following luxury homes, condos and properties went on the market or reduced their list price the second week of January:

Almost as enduring as midnight fireworks, the American resolution to lose weight every January is a troubling tradition. Perhaps motivated by an upcoming event, many people manage to drop a few pounds on their own, only to gain it all back (and more) after their class reunion or wedding day.

During her two decades at Center of Creative Arts (COCA), founding executive director Stephanie Riven nurtured it from a small educational program with four employees and 40 students to the fifth-largest multidisciplinary arts center in the country. Today, COCA has a budget of $5 million, more than 300 faculty members and serves 50,000-plus people a year with performances, exhibitions, camps, and nationally recognized arts education programs. Now, Riven is joining an arts consulting firm in New York City. To honor her legacy and welcome new executive director Kelly Pollock, COCA is throwing itself—and the community—a little party. The two-day event, COCA 360: The Shape of Things to Come, takes place Oct.1 and 2.

Fun food in a fun place is a quick way to describe The Fountain on Locust. Opened a couple of years ago, the midtown diner near Saint Louis University is a hopping throwback to soda fountain days, serving made-from-scratch designer salads, sandwiches and starters. Here, toppings like pesto, salad dressings and sandwich spreads do not come from bottles and cans.