The Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 1000 Washington Avenue (Eastern Parkway), in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, celebrates its vast orchid collection on Friday night from 8 p.m. to midnight with Latin music and tropical food and drinks from local restaurants. Tickets are $65 per person. On Friday, the Tour de France Restaurant Group (which includes Marseilles, Nice Matin and Café D'Alsace) kicks off its Winter Stinky Cheese Festival, which runs through Feb. 17. Besides cheese-themed specials, there will be a competitive sommelier "smackdown" and guests can vote on favorite pairings with various cheeses. Top sommeliers from across the city will join Yannick Benjamin, a sommelier who also sells wines at Le Du's Wines and uses a wheelchair, to raise money for Wheeling Forward, a charity that helps people with disabilities attend school and find work. The fund-raiser is on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m. at the wine shop, 600 Washington Street (Morton Street), in the West Village, and features a tasting of more than 100 wines. Tickets are $30 in advance, online, or $40 at the door. Just in time for Valentine's Day, Harney & Sons, 433 Broome Street (Crosby Street), in SoHo, will offer a free tasting of tea-infused bonbons on Saturday from 2 to 5 p.m. A demonstration of how to make tea-infused truffles is scheduled for 3 p.m. A family-friendly pre-Valentine's Day brunch takes place at Toloache 82, 166 East 82nd Street (between Lexington and Third Avenues), on the Upper East Side on Saturday and Sunday from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. A $15 three-course menu includes scrambled eggs in a tortilla, banana French toast and do-it-yourself quesadillas. For children, there will be arts and crafts and face painting. Make reservations by calling (212) 861-4505. A temporary gift shop is open at the New Amsterdam Market in the South Street Seaport where vendors will sell Valentine's Day gifts, including chocolates and baked goods, on Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Thompson Warehouse, 213 Water Street (Fulton Street). There will also be a soda fountain with classics like egg creams and creative specialties such as a quince and goat cheese ice cream float. Flights of three artisan chocolates paired with three different wines will be available for $12 a flight or $30 for three at Brooklyn Oenology, 209 Wythe Avenue (North Third Street), in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Saturday from 3 p.m. to midnight and Sunday from noon to 10 p.m. A variety of high end chocolates, coffee and tea will be offered at the Trifecta Tasting, on Saturday from 3 to 6 p.m. at Conrad Miller's new chocolate shop, Chocolate Earth, 145 Front Street (Jay Street), in Dumbo, Brooklyn. Tickets are $12 per person. For people looking to learn more about Scotch whisky, the Brandy Library, 25 North Moore Street (West Broadway), in TriBeCa, is holding a class on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. where an array of Scotches will be poured in a guided tasting for $90 per person. Call (212) 226-5545 to make a reservation. Couples or individuals who want to learn a recipe or two for Valentine's Day can sign up for a cooking class featuring ingredients that some believe have aphrodisiac properties, like oysters, cinnamon and saffron. The class will be taught at Wall & Water in the Andaz Wall Street hotel, 75 Wall Street (Water Street), on Saturday from 3:30 to 5 p.m., followed by dinner with wine. The class is $200 per couple or $120 a person. Call (212) 590-1234 to save a spot. A tasting of Mexican food by the chef Roberto Santibanez will be held in conjunction with a Sunday talk from 2 to 4:30 p.m. at the 92Y Tribeca, 200 Hudson Street (Canal Street), about the Mexican muralist Diego Rivera, whose works are also on display at the Museum of Modern Art through May 14. Tickets, sold online, are $65 person. Hong Thaimee, chef and owner of Ngam, 99 Third Avenue (13th Street), in the East Village, will teach a hands-on cooking class on Sunday from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Students, only 10 per class, will learn how to make dishes like stir-fried mussels with Thai herbs and a spicy and sour soup with shrimp. The class is $90, including dinner, tax and tip. Future classes will be held on the second Sunday of each month. Sign up by calling (212) 777-8424. The event designer Adam Aleksander and the Grub Street editor Jenny Miller revive the Les Salonnieres Artists Salon and Supper Club on Sunday with a New Orleans-themed four-course dinner starting at 6 p.m. Tickets are $45 per person and the exact location, which will be on the Lower East Side, will be revealed to those who reserve a spot. A speakeasy will open at 8 p.m.