While a return to the boom days of the real estate market might still be a long way off, local agents are coming up with a lot of creative ways to make it work. These are the top agents from area agencies for 2011.

Cute couples were everywhere this year! Check out all the fun

With the arrival of Jan. 1 comes an onslaught of health and exercise resolutions for the New Year, but by Feb. 1, those personal promises are often forgotten. We asked area fitness experts how you can start a new workout routine and stay committed throughout 2012.

◆ Chef BRIAN HARDESTY, who took over the kitchen at Nosh a few weeks ago, has announced he’s dropping the Nosh name in favor of Root. The name is reflective of the new culinary direction Hardesty is pursuing: original takes on classic American cuisine that span the years from the founding of the country until roughly the Great Depression era. Hardesty says to expect lots of game, roasted meat and whole fish preparations. The restaurant (co-located with Starr’s in Richmond Heights) is closed during the transformation, and is scheduled to open for business on Tuesday, Jan. 10.

Without further ado, these were my 10 favorite films this year (in no particular order):

These eight homes are stunning examples of luxury homes that were listed or sold in 2011:

Through beautiful images, palatable ingredients and curious methods, a good cookbook will almost always encourage inspiration. For those looking for new, insightful ideas to use in the kitchen, a variety of selections from the 2011 cookbook harvest provide wonderful offerings, from local to national, down-home to elegant and bite-size to ‘the whole hog.’

It’s the final week of 2011, and I, for one, am ready to ring in 2012. Everything this year just seemed a little out of whack. Yes, the Cardinals won the World Series, but even that seemed a little hinky—as if Loki were skipping through the outfield blissfully making players drop balls. The weather was wacky, the stock market was crazy, black was white, up was down.

In the automotive world it’s hard to pick a ‘best’ of the year, but two new cars brought something new and exciting into the marketplace in 2011.

It’s that time of year when we look back on the season and decide who nailed the trend and who—ahem—botched it. All in my humble opinion, of course!

As the end of the year approaches, tax season looms on the horizon. We asked local financial experts for their advice about what you can do now for lesser worries later.

In 1789, Benjamin Franklin wrote, In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes—a statement that remains easy to agree with. But when Congress agreed to disagree regarding this country’s estate tax in 2010, for the first time in decades, the U.S. went an entire year without a federal estate tax.

> ALEKSANDAR JOVANOVIC, former GM at SLeeK Steakhouse at Lumiere Place, has been tapped as the GM and sommelier at Truffles. He replaces John Cain, who moved over to Annie Gunn’s earlier this year. Truffles executive chef JOHN GRIFFITHS has also told us that the first round of improvements to the dining room, including a custom service table, should be completed in the next month or so.

    EMILY RAUH PULITZER will be the guest of honor at the Contemporary Art Museum’s annual gala in March. Pulitzer, who has enjoyed a notable career as curator, collector and patron of the arts, is the wife of the late St. Louis Post-Dispatch publisher JOSEPH PULITZER. Together, they’ve amassed one of the country’s premier art collections with works by PABLO PICASSO, ELLSWORTH KELLY, ANDY WARHOL, RICHARD SERRA and others. The March 6 event at the Four Seasons Hotel will feature a special award presentation to Pulitzer for her contributions to the world of contemporary art. 

While holiday shopping can be fun and satisfying, there are times when it feels more like an obligation than an opportunity to give something meaningful. For the people on your list who have everything, or the ones who are pleased by nothing, why not give the gift of giving? Every nonprofit can use a little help these days, and your contribution can be made in honor of that hard-to-buy-for loved one. Here’s what some local nonprofits advise.

The current financial climate has many of us thinking about the security of our investments and the assets we’re specifically setting aside to take care of our loved ones when we’re gone. Some local experts tell us that now may be the right time to access the various options, particularly when it comes to creating a trust.

Tax-wise investors know that they should check their portfolios at the end of the year to see if there are losses that can be harvested to offset other gains. To maximize the benefit of harvesting losses, the specific lot identification method should be used. By doing so, an investor would be selling the lot with the highest percentage loss. This maximizes the current loss and the current deduction.