A big-screen television or a gorgeous Le Creuset makes for a flashy present, but nothing quite matches the gift that requires a little effort, especially when kidlets are involved. In honor of Mother's Day, here's a super-cute Epicurious video featuring Chef Bill Telepan (of Telepan restaurant in New York City) and his daughter, Leah, as they make a quick and easy chilled cucumber and dill soup for Mom.

We won't give away all of Leah's one-liners, but she makes the video sparkle with her kid-cook commentary about everything from salt ("That's a lot of salt!") to tuna ("ew!"). Best of all, this is only the beginning: the soup is part of an entire Epicurious Mother's Day Picnic Menu encompassing all sorts of picnicky fare. Enjoy!

[Via Epicurious]

Gretchen Roberts has passed the introductory course at the Court of Master Sommeliers and is studying for her sommelier certification this fall.

Attention doting husbands and children: Mother's Day is right around the corner. As the mom of two small children whose energy levels are inversely proportionate to their ages, I'm here to speak up for mothers of the world and give you a hint about proper Mother's Day celebratory etiquette.

It's simple, really. We want to observe Mother's Day by shirking our motherly duties and being bona fide adults.

Preferably with our feet up and a cocktail in hand.

This brings me to some easy sparkling wine recipes, in case you're planning to whip up a nice brunch for your lovely wife or mother. For mix-in drinks, don't bother spending megabucks on real Champagne; go with an inexpensive Prosecco from Italy (such as Fantinel) or Cava from Spain (Friexenet and Segura Viudas are good bets).

Three basic but beloved Mom-friendly elixirs after the jump.

You've called around and every brunch place within a 20 miles radius is booked up solid for Mother's Day. How can you salvage the holiday and make your mom feel special without a reservation?

• Take her to a local Farmers' Market on Sunday morning. You can buy her a cup of coffee or tea and the two of you can wander around, fondle the fresh produce and taste jams and honeys. If you get there early enough, you may be able to grab a dozen local, free range eggs (those babies sell out fast). Poached and served on top of a bed of tender baby greens and you won't (even for a minute) miss the hassle of the restaurant.
  
• Pack a picnic and head for a local park. Who says a celebratory meal has to be eaten in a restaurant? Gather up an assortment of sliced meats, a couple of good cheese, bread or some good crackers and quickly blanch a pound of asparagus. Strawberries or grapes can take care of dessert.
  
• If your mom is a chocolate lover, put together a chocolate tasting for her. Hit the candy aisle at your favorite natural or gourmet foods store (I've found that they have the best assortment of chocolate) and buy four or five good varieties. The two of you can munch on chocolate to your heart's content and when she figures out which one she likes the best, promise her that you'll get her a few more bars of it next time you go to the store.
  
• Even an outing to a local bakery or coffee shop can be a good way to celebrate your mom. Often, the thing she wants most is time alone with her children. This doesn't even have to happen on Mother's Day, if you can't sneak away, schedule a time to get together over coffee and a scone or muffin for some quality mother/child time.

OK, so you didn't start making glacé fruits last month, to be tenderly rolled in sugar and wrapped in handmade paper for Mother's Day. And you didn't pre-order the fancy chocolates from the local chocolatier, the coconut truffles that say "I love you mom" in pink-dyed white chocolate. You didn't even remember to go the grocery store to get more butter to make her a batch of oatmeal cookies. Now it's Sunday morning. What to do? Here are a few ideas.

1) Buy her a subscription to Bon Appétit, Gourmet, or Cook's Illustrated Just order online and go to the bookstore to pick up this month's copy and roll it up with a ribbon and a flower. If she's far away, just forward her the confirmation email and an e-card.

2) Take her to the movies and smuggle in several bags of her favorite childhood candy (my mother's partial to Charleston Chews and those jaw-killing Jujubes). Have an illicit movie theater candy picnic.

3) Create an electronic recipe box for her on Epicurious.com - you can compile your favorite recipes and make comments about them. Email her the password.

4) Show up with a shopping bag full of ingredients and suggest you bake a cake together. Eat half the batter raw. Eat the rest while watching cheesy movies on TV.

5) Send her some virtual chocolates at virtualchocolate.com. One caveat: you must follow it up in a few days with some real chocolates. I'm partial to Moonstruck Chocolates these days - check out the friggin cute chocolate ladybugs.

They say that the greatest form of flattery is imitation, but what do you call an outright swipe? I guess that would be stealing. I have to admit right off the bat that I swiped this right off of Smitten Kitchen. I came across it one day, and it was so beautiful that I knew I had to include it on this menu idea list. Instructions are on the blog.

Wouldn't mom absolutely love this salad? It would be a colorful, flavorful, and seasonal addition to any brunch menu. I generally think of brunch as more breakfast-y, but (a) lot of people include lunch or dinner items in brunch and (b) who wouldn't want something as beautiful as this salad at breakfast? Anyway, it's just a suggestion, but one I know I wouldn't want to pass up!

Pity my poor kids. Forced to eat the slop I make for them. No doubt they'll grow up with horror stories to tell their friends. Like the time their mom made them Rice with chicken crap. Or any one of a dozen other examples. Home cooking may be an expression of love, but in my case, perhaps I'd better content myself with buying them more Nintendo chips.

Then I got to thinking: What could one get the mom who can't cook -- but is forever trying?

The basics: I'd start with a nice new copy of Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. It's the Joy of Cooking for our generation, a large yellow tome featuring the basics of roast chicken and chocolate chip cookies. Foodies might sneer at its simple level, but everyone has to start somewhere, right? And if Mom is starting late, gently help her along in her cooking adventures with a book that will hold her hand down the road. The recipes are simple, and more likely to turn out than not.

Chew on That poses a question to food bloggers each month in a feature called the Monthly Mouthful. This month, they asked, "Do you plan on cooking for your mom this Mother's Day? Please tell us why it's such a special dish and why your mom is so great!"

Gilli from So So Simple Food responded that on Mother's Day in her family, it's the men who cook: "All the women in our family are Mothers so it's boys (except for my husband, who can only cook toast) on the case." This makes sense to me - just because you can cook well doesn't mean you should always have do the cooking for every event. As an example, Gigi of Gigi Cakes recently blogged about a birthday cake she made for her own birthday! While the cake looked amazing, many people left comments questioning why she had to make her own cake.

Jessie from Cakespy wrote that her mom is too far away to cook for, but if she could do it, she would make
her mom's famous silver cake, "a beautiful and delightfully moist layer cake topped with a creamy buttercream frosting." I love the idea that someone who bakes all kinds of mouthwatering creations still loves the cake her mom makes and would choose to make it as a testament to her.

Check out Chew on That's Monthly Mouthful for the rest of the list.

Every mom loves flowers-- except the ones who are allergic. So what's better than getting flowers for mom on Mother's Day? Making her a cake with flowers on it, of course!

I began with two 6-inch round cakes, leveled and stacked with a layer of buttercream between. I then iced the entire thing with white buttercream and let sit for a couple of minutes before smoothing. To get a 'fondant finish' (smooth like fondant but tasty like icing), I used my wooden fondant roller and a Viva paper towel and gently rolled over the surface of the cake.

I found a Wilton tulip and daisy muffin pan and thought it was perfect for baking flowers for the top of a cake. Each flower was leveled so it would sit evenly on top and alternate in a circle. The daisies were iced using tip #220. When I got it, I really thought this tip was going to make a neat drop flower but mostly it just makes pretty fat swirls. I made the centers with small pale yellow fondant circles. For the tulips, I used tip #3 so you could see a basic outline of the petals shape then did a small star tip to fill them in.

It still looked a little plain so I decided to use the flower fondant cutouts and make alternating colors of daisies and tulips for that as well. As an extra touch, I took dark purple fondant and cut out a butterfly shape. I shaped them over a bent piece of cardboard covered in aluminum foil and let them dry overnight. I made four just in case I broke one which was good because I ended up breaking two.

Once I added a little green grass around the edge to finish it off, it was all done. As a mom myself, I think I would much prefer to get these flowers than the kind that come in a vase.

We're on the home stretch for Mother's Day, which means that times a-ticking to get the perfect card and gift before the big day. There might be only a handful of days left, but there is still time to get a gift that looks full of thought and effort. And if you've got a mom who loves meals made of beef and other tasty forms of meat, this guide is for you.

What follows is list for creating the ultimate indoor grilling gift for your carnivorous mom. It's all the pieces you need for one perfectly grilled piece of meat. But the kicker is: with just a little finagling, you can take this list and make it work for mom's preferred cooking method -- barbecuing, roasting, stewing, what-have-you.

The pages that follow are each piece of the puzzle, from prep to plate. If you're thinking big, grab them all. If you're on a budget, pick up a few. Check the list out, and please comment if you have any ideas or pieces to add to the mix.

In recent years, my mom has become increasingly difficult to shop for. She has been working at reducing the amount of stuff in her life and so doesn't want the knick knacks and gadgets that we once plied her with. So I've had to get creative and find ways of letting her know what I appreciate all that she does for me without filling her house up with things she'll just get rid of. Here are some of the ways I've given her clutter-free food-related gifts.

Bake! My mother tries to eat healthfully, but she can't resist certain homemade, chocolate-based treats. This is a great way to go if you live far away from your mom and still want to put a personal touch on her gift. A batch of freshly baked granola (packaged in an easily recyclable plastic container) is also a good way to go.

Jams and jellies make good Mother's Day gifts (as long as your mom likes that sort of thing). You can either make up a batch yourself (Strawberry-Rhubarb Jam would be seasonal and delicious) or head to a local farmers' market to pick up a couple of jars.

Draw up a personalized gift certificate for a food-related service. I realize that this might sound like an idea straight out of the third grade, but the offer of a pot of soup, deliverable on demand or a monthly loaf of freshly baked bread is something that is certain to make many a mother swoon.

If your maternal figure is a gardener, a collection of herb seedlings from a local nursery would surely delight her (in my family, this particular gift is reserved for my dad on Father's Day). It is a gift that produces all spring and summer long, and when the season ends, can be uprooted and delivered to the compost pile.

Many a mother likes to entertain. Tell her that next time she wants to throw a cocktail party or backyard cookout, you'll be there to be head shopper, chef, server and cleaner. It might just be the first time in years that she'll get to enjoy her guests at her own party.

What other ideas do you have for clutter-free, Mother's Day gifts?

Mom made you eat your veggies for years, so return the love with vegetarian-friendly gifts this Mother's Day. Whether her diet is strictly vegetarian or just veggie-inclined, check out these lovely presents that will surely brighten her kitchen and her day!

Culinary Herb Garden Kit from wishingfish -- The gift that keeps on giving.

Swiss Peelers, Set of 3 from Williams Sonoma -- Simple, colorful, practical.

Subscription to Vegetarian Times magazine -- Great recipes and fun eating ideas from a magazine that your mom will love all year long.

Mother's Day petit fours from Figis -- Who am I kidding? These are for any mom -- vegetarian, meat-loving, herbivorous, sweet-toothed...

Olive and Rosemary Topiary Trees from Stonewall Kitchen -- A beautiful way to present a practical gift. These will look great anywhere, and come in handy when cooking with fresh herbs.

Organic vegetable box from Mode Organic -- Produce straight to your door.

Bamboo steamer from WokShop -- Great for veggies, and anything else.

Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian from Amazon -- My favorite cookbook. Soon to be your mom's. Bittman offers easy recipes and plenty of suggestions for a well-balanced vegetarian diet.

Vegan body lotion from von Natur -- Organic beauty she'll feel good about.

6-pack Coffee Sampler from Grounds for Change -- Organic and fair trade.

Kenneth Jay Lane Apple Necklace from Max and Chloe -- Not really a cooking gift, but a bit of bling never hurt anyone.

Membership to the Harry and David Fruit of the Month Club -- Classic!

Soy candles from Welcome-home Candles -- These yummy candles come in great scents, and since they aren't made from beeswax, they'll please even the most conscious vegan.

Vegan baking mixes from Goodbaker -- Chocolate cake, oatmeal cookies, fudge frosting, multi-grain muffins...

Anyone have more ideas for the vegetarian Mom? Feel free to share!

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 11th and whether your mother is a meat-eater or a vegetarian, a fantastic home cook or an expert in the art of ordering out, we're here to help. We'll be featuring an assortment of Mother's Day gift guides this week, along with ideas for brunches, picnics and dinners that will make your mothers, grandmothers and any other maternal types in your life feel special and celebrated. Check back often so that you don't miss any of our useful advice.

Since Sunday is Mother's Day, over the next couple of days we'll be looking at a bunch of different recipes and ideas on what to do for her special day, but for now we'd like to hear from you.

For those of you who are Mothers - what is your ideal way to celebrate? Do you prefer breakfast in bed? A nice dinner out? Or are you like Paula Deen and cook a meal with your family? For those of you who will be treating your mom to something on Sunday, are you planning on taking her out, or are you preparing something special at home? We'll take some of the best ideas and round them up in a subsequent post - so those of you who haven't planned anything yet (like me - shhh!) may get some great ideas.

As already mentioned, I am on a quest for Mother's Day food ideas this week and came across this recipe for a Limoncello Dessert via Rachael Ray. Though it sounds interesting, I was immediately disappointed to find out that there is nothing about the actual preparation that requires any form of culinary skill, and the ingredients are all items that come fully prepared.

When it comes to making this dessert, the terms pouring, scooping, and arranging may apply, but definitely not cooking or baking. I honestly believe this is the epitome of why some people dislike Rachael Ray.

But conversely, this is also why some people love her. She (re)creates familiar items that (for the most part) sound relatively good, look relatively good, and taste relatively good. They are excessively easy to prepare, require very little to no culinary skill whatsoever, and result in a home-cooked meal or dish which is done in a short amount of time.

So, the debate continues. Is it better to have a television personality that teaches the masses that there are easy ways to prepare dinners, or should cooking shows simply be a showcase of taking the gastronomic arts to the next level?

Personally, I would think that a Mother's Day dessert should require a little more effort than simply scooping out some ice cream and drizzling it with Limoncello, but maybe that is just me. I do have to say though, if this is really all someone is capable of preparing - due to skill, time, or other reasons, is it really such a bad thing that the (admittedly quite lovely) little dessert wasn't really made from scratch?

(image: FoodNetwork.com)

Since Mother's Day is right around the corner, I've been searching for some recipe ideas and started wondering how Paula Deen, probably the best-known mother in the cooking world, would celebrate Mom's Day? The answer, of course, is by inviting her sons over to cook with her. After a quick search, I found out that the Food Network would be airing her Mother's Day special today. Paula, Jamie and Bobby will apparently be preparing a brunch feast which includes Nutty Orange Coffee Cake, Benedictine Sandwiches (pictured, above) and Eggs in a Nest, which essentially equates to a ham and cheese omelet served in phyllo pasty - nice twist on the original.

If you watch her often, you'll know that Paula isn't afraid to mix things up a little in the morning with some wine - and in this case she is preparing Wine Spritzers which I'm fairly certain would be light and refreshing after a heavy brunch.

(image: Food Network)