Imagine you’re in a farmhouse dining in the hills of Tuscany. You’re sitting among friends at a big wooden table with couples kissing to your right and big families toasting one another to the left. A rustic iron chandelier hangs overhead; candles glow at the tables; the walls are weathered brick or fading tones of rusty red. Yeasty bread and piney notes of rosemary scent the air. Comment.

In addition to its orchestral concerts at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Brooklyn Philharmonic schedules more intimate programs at various venues in the borough, including its collaboration with the Brooklyn Museum in the chamber-music series "Music Off the Walls." Comment.

She’s an accomplished singer and actress. She’s recorded gold records and received numerous accolades. She’s performed in prestigious venues all over the world, so it’s only fitting that coloratura diva Maureen McGovern will make her next concert appearance at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, as part of its 50th anniversary season, on Jan. 29. Comment.

History has a fickle memory. Why else would the Algonquin Hotel be remembered as New York City’s quintessential literary salon while the equally fascinating arts commune at 7 Middagh St. in Brooklyn Heights is all but forgotten? Is it simply the age-old prejudice that places Manhattan ahead of Brooklyn, no matter the quality? Compare a list of the core members from both groups then judge for yourself. Comment.

More a history of the Dodgers’ stay in Brooklyn than the story of the team’s famous ballpark, "Ebbets Field: Brooklyn’s Baseball Shrine" offers readers the chance - yet again - for a schmaltzy walk down memory lane. Comment.

Winter has me ready to sip a mojito on a warm beach somewhere. But until I can get away, the blue tiles and sunset-colored walls of the new Cubana Cafe on Smith Street should satisfy the urge. Comment.

Sketches released to the public of the new plans for Brooklyn Bridge Park have been, well, sketchy to say the least, and the officers of the Brooklyn Bridge Park Development Corporation have refused to allow photographs to be taken of their scale model of the 1.3-mile plan. Comment.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Borough President Marty Markowitz put their shovels in the ground last week to mark the start of construction on an expansion to the Brooklyn Marriott that will nearly double the number of rooms at the borough’s premier hotel. Comments (1).

Atlantic Yards: Community Board 6 has begun holding meetings to decide what issues should be considered in an eventual environmental impact study of Forest City Ratner’s Atlantic Yards development plan. Comment.

With Wal-Mart pushing to open its first New York City store, in Rego Park, Queens, and reportedly eying a site in Downtown Brooklyn as well, legislation has been introduced in the City Council that could place a moratorium on big box stores. Comment.

Following an investigation and order to halt demolition on a Civil War-era building on Red Hook’s waterfront that was found to contain large quantities of asbestos, the Department of Environmental Protection issued 18 violations to contractors clearing the land for Ikea. Comment.

About a dozen local officials met behind closed doors last week to try to formulate a unified response to mounting criticism of the reconceived Brooklyn Bridge Park plan. Comment.