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Chef Garces wants to reward you for dining with him. (Photo courtesy Garces Restaurant Group)

As if we need any more incentive to eat at one of Iron Chef Jose Garces’ fantastic restaurants, the Garces Restaurant Group now rewards frequent diners with its new loyalty program.

Pick a card up from a server or host at any Garces restaurant (you can either dine in and apply those dollars to the card as points, or simply pick one up and use it later), then flash it at Amada, Distrito, Tinto, Chifa, Village Whiskey, Garces Trading Company or JG Domestic each time you go to start racking up the points.

Each dollar spent is swapped for a point, and just registering your card online will score 100 points. After 250 points, you’ll get a $25 Garces Restaurant Group gift card to use at any restaurant in the group.

Plus, for caffeine fiends, nine drinks on your loyalty card at Garces Trading Company or JG Domestic will get one free.

Have a special event coming up? Celebrate a birthday at any Garces Restaurant and get double points. We’re also looking forward to Garces Trading Company’s five-course cheese and beer dinner March 1, JG Domestic’s Beer Dinner with the Ommegang brewery on March 10!

GRG Loyalty Program [Garces Restaurant Group]

Each product is named after a Philadelphia location or iconic woman. (Photo courtesy Four Seasons)

Calling all die-hard Philadelphians: the Four Seasons Hotel has found yet another way you can show your devotion to the City of Brotherly Love — with your makeup!

The Spa at the Four Seasons Hotel has added local celebrity makeup artist Carie Brescia’s goods to their already impressive collection of beauty products (Aromatherapy and Naturopathica, to name two). The line is the Spa’s first Philadelphia-based brand.

Carie’s inspiration for the makeup line was none other than Philadelphia and the vast history that the city offers to visitors and residents alike, as well as strong, motivational women in its history.

Included in the line is a selection of lipstick, lip gloss, mascara and cream blush that range in price from $18 to $24. Check out the blushes, which are all named after Philadelphia’s historic squares (the Rittenhouse comes in a subtle, pale pink).

The Spa is open daily from 8 a.m.-8 p.m., so stop by today and pamper yourself… to show your Philly pride.

Four Seasons Hotel Spa
One Logan Square
www.fourseasons.com/philadelphia

Don your mackintosh, bowler, or big feathery hat. Next Friday, February 18, beginning at noon, the Kelly Writers House on the University of Pennsylvania campus is hosting its fifth annual Marathon Reading.

All afternoon and into the evening (expected to be around 10 pm.), anyone interested will read installments of Virginia Woolf’s modernist classic Mrs. Dalloway in its entirety, in ten-minute shifts. Expect pink cakes, toffee, high tea, and lots of flowers. Costumes are encouraged.

Send a message to wh@writing.upenn.edu if you’re interested in reading.

Fifth Annual Marathon Reading: Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway
When: Friday, February 18, noon-9 p.m.
Where: Kelly Writers House, 3805 Locust Walk
Cost: FREE
More info: www.writing.upenn.edu

(Photo by R. Kennedy for GPTMC)

[This is the fourth installment of our ¡Philly Te Ama! Video Series that spotlights noteworthy Latinos with a connection to Philadelphia in order to learn more about why they love it here.]

So far in our weekly Philly Te Ama® video series, we’ve celebrated food, entertainment and nightlife as well as music. In our fourth installment we’re doing something a little different.

If there’s one organization which embodies what it means to be Latino in Philadelphia, it would be Taller Puertorriqueño, which is located in El Centro de Oro, North Philadelphia’s Hispanic community on North 5th Street.

Taller, community-based arts collective that celebrates the arts of Puerto Rico, Latin America and the Caribbean, recently celebrated its 35th anniversary and continues to achieve its mission of promoting, preserving and developing Latino arts and culture.

In the video below, you’ll hear from community leaders as well as Mayor Michael Nutter on why they think Taller PR is so important to not just Philadelphia’s community, but the nation.

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Lincoln spoke at Independence Hall 150 years ago. (Photo courtesy National Park Service)

Presidents Day is Monday, February 21, but on Tuesday, February 22, from 8 a.m.-1 p.m., Independence National Historical Park will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s inaugural journey from Springfield, Illinois to Washington, D.C., with a parade that will march from Independence Mall’s “People’s Plaza” between 5th and 6th Streets on Market Street, to the north side of Chestnut Street.

Inside Independence Hall, school groups will gather in the Assembly Room at 8 a.m. for a presentation of Lincoln’s speech. Following the speech, Philadelphia dignitaries will proceed outside to reenact Lincoln’s raising of the 34-star flag over Independence Hall.

Then, participants are invited to a question-and-answer session with National Park Service Rangers and elected officials at the National Constitution Center’s F.M. Kirby Auditorium.

Read more about the journey so you know exactly what to anticipate.

150th Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s Inaugural Journey
Where: Starts at Independence Hall, 5th and Chestnut Streets
When: February 22, 8 a.m.-1 p.m.
Cost: FREE
More info: www.nps.gov

Garces is teaming up with a local brewery for another awesome beer dinner. (Photo by M. McClellan for GPTMC)

Garces Trading Company, along with the Cellars at Jasper Hill cheesemongers and Philadelphia Brewing Company, is hosting a five-course cheese and beer pairing dinner, March 1.

For $65 (before tax and gratuity), you get four courses of food plus dessert, each paired with one of the Philadelphia Brewing Company’s local craft beers.

Dishes include: funghi pizza with lemon-coriander béchamel sauce, agrodolce pork ribs, and a duo of ice cream sandwiches featuring porter ice cream.

Reservations are required, and space is limited. Call (215) 574-1099.

Check out the full menu, below.

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Celebrate and groove to unique cultural sounds as the Please Touch Museum presents their second installment of World Music Weekend.

Children and adults will learn how countries from around the world create music, and what music means to different cultures.

The West Philadelphia Orchestra returns this year to open the weekend with their big brass European sound in the museum’s Hamilton Hall. Newcomers Minas Brazilian quintet, are sure to delight with the addition of dancers to their performance, and the weekend closes on President’s Day with the anachronistically appropriate Philadelphia Mandolin and Guitar Ensemble; their specialty being music from 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.

While some of last summer’s performances were featured outside in City Park, all performances will take place inside at Hamilton Hall. The Please Touch Museum aims to expose children to International music in a fun and interactive way, so feel free to get up and dance those winter blues away!

World Music Weekend
Where: Please Touch Museum, 4231 Avenue of the Republic
When: February 19-21, noon-2 p.m.
Cost: Free with museum admission
More Info: www.pleasetouchmuseum.org

CNN Money named Philadelphia the fourth most romantic city in the U.S., based on money spent per transaction on Valentine’s Day ($134.93 in Philadelphia).

We beat out New York by $4.63 per transaction. Check out the full list online.

As far as romance measured by grand gestures rather than pocket depth, Mayor Nutter officiated at the wedding of a local couple aboard the Mural Arts Love Train this past Sunday, February 13.

This was the second Love Train on Valentine’s Day weekend since the Love Letter murals were completed in 2009. Last fall a Canadian couple got engaged during the Love Letter tour. That inspired the Mural Arts program to run a contest to select a Philadelphia couple to tie the knot over the holiday weekend.

It’s nice to see Philadelphia living up to its Brotherly Love namesake. Check out a video of the wedding below.

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Periodic Lecture Series on Design: Innovation and Entrepreneurship, a free and open-to-the-public lecture series featuring five leading design experts, kicks off tonight, Tuesday, February 15, at the University of the Arts.

Lectures will be held Tuesday evenings from 6 to 7:30 p.m. through May 3, and will present designers and design thinkers who illustrate exciting approaches to problem solving and innovation.

Beginning tonight with award-winning entrepreneur Tom Szaky, Founder of TerraCycle, Inc., who will discuss his grassroots business model that upcycles trash into consumer products, the series also includes a lecture by Susan Szenasy, Editor in Chief of Metropolis Magazine, on March 1, and a lecture by Ellen Lupton, curator of contemporary design at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, April 12.

Design lovers, you won’t want to miss out on this!

A full schedule and registration are available online.

Periodic Lecture Series on Design: Innovation and Entrepreneurship
When: February 15 through May 3
Where: CBS Auditorium, University of the Arts, 320 S. Broad Street
Cost: Free
More info: www.uarts.edu

Food & Wine Magazine, along with CNN’s Eatocracy, released the nominees today for the 2011 People’s Best New Chef Award, and four of the ten chefs nominated for the Midatlantic region are from Philadelphia.

Representing Philadelphia are:

• Pierre Calmels of Bibou
• David Gilberg of Koo Zee Doo
• Jeff Michaud of Osteria
• Charles “Chip” Roman of Blackfish

Cast your vote online to ensure we bring the award home! You have until March 1.

Food & Wine’s The People’s Best New Chef 2011 [Eatocracy]