Book excerpt: The perfect gift for Valentine's day - practical, simple and sensuous recipes to unleash the lover in all of us. Mark Douglas Hill has spent a lifetime in pursuit of foods that encourage friskiness and enhance the frisking. In search of the ultimate aphrodisiac dishes, over the years he has researched and refined, trialed and tested ingredients and recipes from all over the world. This compendium of culinary come-ons is the legacy of his unceasing quest. The Aphrodisiac Encyclopaedia is a veritable cornucopia of titillating titbits - from liquorice to lobster, figs to foie gras, and mango to mint. Along with mouth-wateringly tempting recipes, each entry is packed with diverse and diverting fact - historical, literary, biological and psychological - and the aphrodisiac and amorous qualities of each ingredient examined and appraised. This Valentine's, cook up a steamy dinner for the man or woman in your life with The Aphrodisiac Encycopaedia.