Rule 1 – Match the weight and texture of the food to the weight and texture of the wine

A light bodied fish – deserves a light bodied Pinot.

A fuller salmon – deserves a heavier Chardonnay.

Rule 2 – Balance the intensity of flavours in food and wine

Mildly flavoured food, such as a roast works best with light bodied wines such as Sauvignon Blanc.

Stronger dishes work best with richer, fruiter wines.

Rule 3 – Balance tastes

The five basic tastes are sweet, sour, salt, bitter and umami (a recently discovered fifth taste found in mushrooms, tomatoes, soy sauce etc).

Salty and sour tastes make red wines taste milder, whilst sweet and savoury makes white wine taste stronger.

Rule 4 – Match flavours & Counterpoint

The relationship between food and wine is not unlike the relationship between lovers…match common factors to create success…on the other hand opposites also attract.

The sun is shining and we’ve had a makeover! With the release of our new DatingAgency.com look last week we would love to know what you think of the site! We want you to be happy and any feedback we receive helps us to make this site even better for you. We will be sending a survey to all our members on Thursday to find out what you think. As a thank you for taking part, one very lucky participant will win six months full membership for FREE!

As if that wasn’t exciting enough…Today is National Kissing Day!

The latest survey from online magazine getlippy.com reveals that the majority of us would like more kissing in our lives. National Kissing Day  could be the perfect opportunity for Brits to join the lucky lot who claim they kiss up to 10 times a day (19%).

In the league of best and worst kissers, the Brits sweep the board with 42% of the vote for great kissing. The Italians – the Casanovas of Europe come in second with 15%, closely followed by the French with 13%. So how and when did the Brits get to be so good at kissing? Over a third of women practised on their hands when they were younger with a few admitting to practising on the mirror (11%). A quarter of women admitted they are still learning!

When it comes to kissing etiquette, there are some things you just shouldn’t do. Well over a third of women voted bad breath as the worst offender. Sloppy kisses are a passion killer for a third of women and nearly a fifth are put off kissing someone who smokes.

When it comes to the most iconic silver screen kiss, readers opted for a modern fairy tale classic and voted for Julia Roberts and Richard Gere in Pretty Woman with a third of the vote. We second that!

Here at DatingAgency.com we believe that you don’t have to wait to meet someone for the fun to begin. We do everything we can to make the experience as enjoyable as possible for you and would love to hear from you about how you’re finding the site – whether that’s through the comments below, on our Facebook page, our Twitter account or by emailing our dedicated support team.

We will also be sending all our lovely members a survey in the near future, and one lucky participant will win a fantastic prize! In the meantime, we hope you continue to enjoy the site…

If you have met your partner through DatingAgency.com we’d love to hear from you too – you’ll put a smile on our faces all week!

I’m pleased to report a major success story to you!

After being on the site for a fairly short time and only going out on one date I am now happily involved with a truly lovely lady.  We are both over the moon!

In the build-up to our first date that we laughed so much that we felt we knew each other even before we actually met!

Many thanks

G.R. West Country

I have met probably the loveliest man I’ve ever met in my life, and we have started going out together and so far its all brilliant!  Thank you to everyone there!

S.H. Avon

Just a quick email to thank you for giving me the opprtunity of meeting the woman of my dreams.   I have found the lady with whom I would love to spend the rest of my life.  Best wishes to you all and again, thank you.

M.O.  South Yorkshire

I am now in a lovely position of having met someone wonderful and things are going really well so I would be very grateful if my membership could be cancelled.

Thank you for all your help  and for helping me find Mr Right!

Best wishes and season greetings to you all.

Kind regards

R.Y. Essex

Don’t worry – you will still have access to all the same great features and functions and will be able to carry on enjoying meeting people for friendship and romance in a safe, secure and hopefully fun environment.

We’ll be sending out a survey soon to get your feedback on the changes, we really hope you like them…

A new wardrobe

With Spring comes a complete turnaround in wardrobe choices from the warm and woolly clothes of winter. Neutral colours are in for 2010, so think khaki, camel, and beige – but, these colours don’t suit all skin colours so you could go for light grey instead.

DIY gadgets

Most of us are going to succumb to some sort of home improvement activity in the next few months, so head on down to your nearest DIY superstore now to pick up a bargain on barbeques, lawn mowers, parasols and all the other paraphernalia we usually leave until the last minute.

Fitness

Most of us are going to succumb to some sort of home improvement activity in the next few months, so head on down to your nearest DIY superstore now to pick up a bargain on barbeques, lawn mowers, parasols and all the other paraphernalia we usually leave until the last minute.

Go for a picnic

What better way could there be to enjoy the weather than to pack up a feast (and maybe a bottle of wine), find a peaceful spot in the sun and have a good old chin-wag over lunch with your DatingAgency.com date? Even in the biggest cities you can always find a quiet corner in a park so seek it out and just enjoy each other’s company.

Head to the coast

We’re really quite fortunate here in Britain that most of us are no more than a couple of hours’ drive from the sea. Get to the coast before the summer rush starts to enjoy quiet strolls on the beach, fish & chips on the promenade and ‘investing’ a few pennies in the amusement arcades!

Rent a boat

The Manchester Shipping Canal excluded, Britain’s waterways are the perfect venue for a cosy but relaxed date now that the sun’s out. For the gentleman who wants to impress there are rowing boats to hire or for those wanting a bit more equality you can always opt for a pedalo.

Go balloning

Far from something reserved for “adrenaline junkies”, lots of companies offer very refined, luxury balloon trips ranging from a couple of hours to day-long excursions with prices to fit every pocket. So with nature blooming there’s no better time for an aerial view of the countryside.

It’s also a time for change here at DatingAgency.com which means that there’s no better time to re-assess who you’re looking for and spring clean your profile.

Have a look at our simple ideas on how to easily freshen up your profile and we’re sure you’ll start to see even more messages come flooding in.

Change your photo

Your photo is more often than not the first thing that someone will notice, so it’s important that it strikes a chord straight away. If it’s bright and sunny outside then a summery setting for your photo will help other people relate to it and they may be more likely to get in touch.

Re-write your profile

Even if it’s only a couple of weeks old, it’s worth starting your profile from scratch once in a while to give it a fresh feel and weed out any of those things you’ve said that might not be so important any more. Writing about yourself can also help you work out just what you’re looking for.

Tell people what you’re doing

People often look at someone’s profile a few times before they pluck up the courage to get in touch. If you’re always adding new news to your description then they’ll know that you use the site regularly and that you’ve got interesting things to say and do.

We truly believe that these improvements mean it will be virtually impossible for anyone with ulterior motives to gain access to the site, or be able to contact our Members. We are committed to delivering the best experience possible.

Our new features include…

Profile Checking

Every new profile that’s uploaded on DatingAgency.com will be checked to make sure it meets our exacting standards. If it doesn’t make the grade it won’t appear on the site and you won’t be bothered by it – that’s our guarantee to you. To ensure we maintain this quality going forward, we will also review any changes or edits to profiles too.

First Message Approval

It’s great to hear from someone new when they join the site, but we want to ensure that they’re sending out the right sort of messages. As a result we’re introducing First Message Approval, which means all new Members will have their first message checked by us – before it ever gets to you.

Dictionary

Our new system allows us to check that the wording Members are using in their profiles, messages and diaries are appropriate for the site and do not intentionally offend other Members. This will aid us in preventing any strange or misleading activity taking place on the site, improving your online dating experience.

Our Customer Care and Moderation teams are working hard to help us track down, review and remove false and misleading profiles and inappropriate messaging from DatingAgency.com.

We wanted to let you know about a great new feature we’ve added to DatingAgency.com to help you manage any contact you receive, in a way which suits you.

With our NEW Summary E-mail facility whether you want to hear straight away if someone sends you a message, views your profile or sends you a gift; or are happy to receive a daily or weekly summary, the choice is yours.

Your summary will show:

• Who has viewed your profile
• How many messages and winks you have received
• How many gifts you have received

To make the most of this exciting new feature simply login to DatingAgency.com, click on “My Account”, select “My Settings” and then choose how often you want to receive your notifications.