• 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.

The 4-star Storrs Hall Hotel in England's Lake District is offering what appears to be the UK's priciest picnic lunch. Chef Craig Sherrington put together a group of items that he thinks make up the ideal picnic - assuming that money is no object, since the picnic costs £1,566.60 ( $2,895 US). Picnicker's will dine outdoors on the shores of Lake Windermere on a meal that includes foie gras, Beluga caviar, British rare white beef, Scottish lobster, Waberthwaite Royal Air Dried Ham, Smoked Holker Venison Loin and Smoked Wild Lune Valley Salmon and an exotic fruit trifle with real gold leaf shavings. And since no picnic is complete without a beverage, the luxury meal will be accompanied by bottles of Louis Roederer Cristal Champagne and Chateau Lafite-Rothschild.

This single-subject cookbook would have been a good one for our picnic day because, even though it's not necessarily the best idea to leave eggs out unrefrigerated on a warm, sunny day, deviled eggs are the must-have picnic food of many, many people. Just ask my grandmother. Deviled Eggs: 50 Recipes from Simple to Sassy is a collection of recipes that makes deviled eggs a little more interesting. It starts out with tips on making the perfect hard-boiled eggs, such as getting the yolks centered in the middle of the white (making the optimal presentation) and keeping the yolks bright yellow. Most of the recipes are short and can be made with ingredients that are already in your pantry or fridge, adding in sun-dried tomatoes, avocado or wasabi. Check out this recipe for "The Devil Made Me Do It" eggs, which are kicked up with habenero sauce and curry powder and are likely to be a hot dish at your next egg-making event.

As soon as we can all arrange a day off together myself and the gang - all nine of us - are to hire a boat on the Thames and set off for a picnic on some remote bank. Hopefully next week, before the glorious weather we are currently enjoying ends in the inevitable thunder storm. I am going to take this salad along as my contribution to the picnic; it's a Thai Inspired Melon Salad taken from some Sunday newspaper or other. I thought it sounded interesting -

Thai Inspired Melon Salad

• 2 garlic cloves mashed with olive oil
• 1 tbsp liquid honey
• 2 tbsp Thai Fish Sauce
• Juice of two limes and the grated zest
• 1-2 red chillies
• 1 Gala/Ogen melon, peeled and chopped into 1 inch cubes
• 2oz/50g unsalted roasted peanuts
• Garnish - plenty of chopped coriander and a little mint

No instructions were given - I guess you just mix the main ingredients together and top with the peanuts and garnish. As for a wine suggestion to accompany; assuming you cannot readily get hold of any Thai wine, I would go for iced water.... or a Singha beer.

These insulated six-pack holders are perfect for road trips. Unlike a cooler or ice chest, they take up no trunk space, but still keep drinks nice and cold. They'll retain heat for hot drinks, too, but I can't think of too many bottled hot drinks that you'd want to carry around. The totes ($20) can hold both bottles and cans, since the neoprene pockets are stretchy, and the ergonomic handle makes the holders to carry if you want to take it to a ballgame or on a hike.

But I'm sure you don't need my suggestions to come up with places that you'd like to take a six-pack to, right?

I saw this recipe in an old issue of Cooking Light (from 2003) that I had lying around and it immediately caught my eye. Why I didn't make it the first time I saw it, I'll never know, but I'm glad I did it now.

Waldorf salad isn't something that you see too often, but the combination of apples, raisins, celery and walnuts is not only addictive, but crunchy and satisfying. Coleslaw, too, is crunchy and refreshing, which is why it is such a popular side to accompany rich and meaty meals. Of course, both salads are slathered in mayo, so they're not exactly healthy foods despite having low-cal ingredients. This is one of the reasons why I liked the Cooking Light recipe, since it eliminates a lot of the fat but still tastes great. Combining the elements of the two salads into Waldorf Coleslaw worked beautifully.

While it may seem like a "duh" moment when you hear that there are a lot of veggies that taste great at room temperature, it's a good thing to keep in mind for a picnic. I know that I tend to think of sandwiches and salads, as well as cookies and other treats, all of which can pack up nicely, but not of things that are usually served hot. At home, I usually cook and serve vegetables right away, but as I noshed on a leftover ear of grilled corn on the cob, I realized that it would be perfect picnic fare. With corn, you can grill it or boil it, tuck it into a ziploc bag (once it is cool) and bring it along. Once you hit the picnic table, you can still butter and salt it or, better yet, use some lime juice to really bring out the flavor.

Other cooked veggies that I like at room temperature are artichokes, which require a little more preparation than corn on the cob since you'll need a spoon to remove the choke, but are excellent even when chilled (try lemon juice and salt to avoid bringing heat-sensitive dips outdoors), asparagus (if they still have it at the markets in your area), zucchini/summer squash and any kind of beans. Of course, you can always add in some raw veggies, like tomatoes, cucumbers, celery and carrots, but you'll probably want some hummus or other dressing to make them a little more interesting since they're not as easy to simply spice up as cooked vegetables are.

• "avoid red ants -- they're too spicy"
• "Take care not to smash [the ants]. They stay more flavorful and retain extra moisture if intact."
• "these make great dessert garnishes!"

Let's face it: if you're not in the house, you're probably not using silverware. But eating with your hands is not only messy, but sometimes it's just not all that convenient. Fried chicken and burgers are fine when eaten out of hand, but what about potato salad or pie?

This nomad traveling silverware set attaches to a lanyard that you can wear around your neck when out hiking or keep in the glove compartment of your car (for emergencies). It includes a miniature stainless steel fork, knife, spoon and bottle opener, all of which tuck neatly away in a plastic case when not in use.

You could use plastic silverware, but this is not only more practical, but it's more eco-friendly, since there is nothing to throw away. A few uses, and this $20 gadget will pay for itself - not to mention that it would made a great gift for anyone who is outdoor-oriented and not taking all their meals at a dining room table.

I don't think that food eaten outside actually tastes better than food eaten indoors, but it does have a feeling of flair and novelty that is impossible to replicate within the confines of your kitchen. Picnics: Easy Recipes for the Best Alfresco Foods is a cookbook that is almost entirely summed up in the title because the recipes are easy and excellent. What the title doesn't quite capture is that almost everything in the book can be prepared well in advance, so if you're planning to hit the beach with your little feast, you don't have to wake up at the crack of dawn and start working over the stove. You'll be able to eat and enjoy your day in the sun. Recipes include dishes like Chilled Meat Loaf Sandwiches with Spicy Ketchup, Red Potato Salad with Bacon and Fresh Herbs, Tangy Roasted Red Pepper Dip and easy traveling desserts, like coconut macaroons, scones and cookies.

I'm not surprised that the photography is excellent in this book, too. After all, you will almost always get better shots indoors than out.

When the spork was first invented, there is little doubt that its creators thought that they had created the ultimate fusion of eating utensils. The spork soon spread to school cafeterias and even into those little plastic baggies they pass out with the meal on airplanes. But the spork wasn't as useful as it could be because you couldn't cut anything with it. To compensate, airplanes included knives with their sporks and schools prepare lunches with no discernable texture. The spork, however, has finally evolved to take cutting abilities into account. The Spork/Knife, coined as the sporknif by Bea of La Tartine Gourmande, has a fork/knife on one end and a paddle-like spoon on the other. It is made from durable, heat-resistant PC material, comes in a variety of colors and only costs a few dollars.

You may never need another utensil again.