Valentine's Day is a long three months away, but what would you rather have: the American classic Hershey's Kiss or the Swedish treat, a Lindt chocolate truffle?

For my money, I'd rather have a chocolate truffle. But if price is an issue, then a Hershey's Kiss chocolate will still satisfy my sweet tooth.

But in an experiment on consumer psychology, a group called Research and Markets in Dublin, Ireland, found that more people wanted a free Kiss over a discounted truffle, but chose the truffle over the Kiss when the Hershey chocolate cost a penny and the Lindt truffle cost 14 cents. In other words, they took free stuff over a more costly item, but when both items cost some amount of money, even 1 cent vs. 14 cents, they picked the more expensive item.

Ever since I quit smoking and downing the occasional bottle of NyQuil, I seem to be running low on vices. Back in the day, I used to eat Big Macs two at a time, smoke cigarettes like I was Bogie with a death wish, and guzzle booze like Lindsay Lohan on...well, on any given Thursday night. Over the last few years, I've cleaned up my act and cut out most of my nasty habits. Nowadays, I feel like I'm breaking the rules when I don't check to make sure that my whole-grain bread is free of high fructose corn syrup or my V-8 is low sodium.

I still have a few guilty pleasures, most of which revolve around food. Although I generally eat well, watch the nutritional content of my meals, and budget carefully, I still like to splurge from time to time. Mostly, however, my culinary crimes revolve around either cheap ethnic restaurants or foods that I prepare myself. To put it bluntly, I'm starting to question whether fine dining is really worth the money. Lately, it seems like many restaurants are focusing on price to the exclusion of art and quality. A prime example of this is the recent explosion of truffles.