It’s that time again — when we prepare to ring in the new by celebrating the best of the past year. So this week, we give you some of our favorite stories from 2006.

Originally published on 10/3/06

Dear Mrs. Mills,

If the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, I haven’t a hope in hell of getting there. I’m a successful, single woman in my 30s and I cannot cook. My mother is highly skilled in the culinary department, but her attempts to teach me go as follows: ‘Here, let me do it’. What do you suggest?

Yours hopefully,

A Ms. (who’d prefer to be a Mrs.)

Dear Ms.,

Book in for a Taste workshop with the delightful Jennifer Hicks, a mother, wife and patient instructor who’ll teach you some simple methodologies without complicated, fancy recipes. It’s all very hands-on, and the statement ‘Let me do that’ doesn’t exist in her cosy, laid-back kitchen. I wish you luck.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs. Mills

P.S. The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but I also recommend the gape in his pyjamas.

Taste (020 7286 4243 or learncooktaste.co.uk).