Fortunately, this pleasant practice is at last catching on in America, and we’ve finally discovered the joys of outdoor dining without its labor-intensive companion, the barbecue. We’ve found out it’s fun and refreshing to just have a bite or a meal in the sun-or-star shine. And that we needn’t travel to France – or to a restaurant – to enjoy the experience. Whether it’s morning coffee and croissants on the patio, lunch around the pool or a candlelight dinner on a card table set up in the driveway, most of us have the means to enjoy open-air dining.

The main objective of al fresco is pleasure for everyone concerned and that includes the “chef.” For this reason, the menu needs to be a simple and easily moveable feast. A one-dish meal is the best possible choice, keeping one from running in and out of the house a zillion times. Pretty paper tablecloths and plates are a good choice as well, making cleanup as breezy as your surroundings. So don’t fuss unless there’s a super-special reason.

Breakfast (or brunch) is one of the best times to dine out of doors. Most of the bugs are still asleep, the air is the cleanest it will be all day, and it’s just such an invigorating time to be out in the ether. Also, traditional morning dishes with ingredients like egg and cheese are perfect because they hold well and don’t have to be served piping hot.

Every cook has a recipe for an egg dish you make the night before, but you’ll find two more on these pages, one perfect for breakfast and the other made to order for brunch or lunch.

With all the bad rap eggs have gotten the past few years, these two yummy recipes from the American Egg Board take care to make up for the richness of their product by keeping the other ingredients low in fat.

Benedict Strata

• 1 package (12 ounces) English muffins
• 6 slices (4 oz) Canadian bacon, chopped
• 6 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
• 3 tablespoons reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 teaspoons grated lemon peel
• Chives and lemon slices for decoration

Split muffins and cut into cubes. Alternate even layers of muffin cubes and bacon in lightly greased 8″x8″x2″ baking dish. Blend together other ingredients and pour evenly over muffin-bacon mixture. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Then uncover and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Garnish with chives and lemon slices if desired.

Veggie Strata

• 6 slices day-old bread
• 1 to 2 cups chopped cooked vegetables
• 1/2 cup shredded low-fat Cheddar cheese
• 6 eggs
• 1 can low-fat reduced-sodium condensed cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
• 1/2 cup non- or low-fat milk
• 1 teaspoon prepared mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed basil leaves
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper or to taste

Evenly coat an 8″x8″x2″ (or 2-quart rectangular) baking dish with cooking spray. Cut bread into 1/2″ cubes and place half in baking dish. Evenly sprinkle veggies and cheese over cubes. Sprinkle with remaining cubes. Beat together eggs, soup, milk and seasonings. Pour over bread-vegetable mixture, cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until knife inserted near center comes out clean and top is golden brown, about 50 to 60 minutes.

For a simpler but mighty zippy egg bake, try this wake up call for the taste buds. Sprinkle 2/3 cup chopped green onion and 1/2 cup seeded and minced jalapeño peppers in an oiled 9″ pie plate. Cover with 1 cup Jarlsberg cheese. Top with 6 beaten eggs (or equivalent egg substitute). Bake at 350( for about 30 minutes or until set. Cool ten minutes, cut into wedges to serve. Keep the number of the fire department handy!

Perfect accompaniments for any of these eggy treats would be crusty bread to tear-not-slice, a pot or thermos of coffee and a bowl of fruit.

If you’re short on time or just want to spend most of it out in the zephyrs, boil eggs to almost-hard, and serve them warm with a basket of muffins, coffee and the best oranges you can buy.

For outdoor lunches or dinners, stick to the same one-dish premise – salads, pasta and the like, with additions such as seafood or chicken. If you have children or if you’re just in the mood, a pot of Sloppy Joes and a huge bowl of buns make for a great do-it-yourself outdoor meal.

For an afternoon treat, brew a pot of your favorite tea and fill those handy little phyllo pastry shells with something delicious be it sweet or savory One great way to serve phyllo is to fill them with a mixture of goat cheese and yogurt.

Please don’t go “argh!” if you find the above too pungent or if you simply have fear of goat cheese because it’s too trendy or sounds yucky. Instead, take a walk on the mild side with a version called Snøfrisk (or “snow fresh” in Norwegian). Available in the deli section, this mixture is 80% alpine and 20% bovine and there’s just enough cows’ cream in it to deliciously smooth out the edges. In fact, it’s so good it should be illegal!

Just melt Snøfrisk with your favorite flavored yogurt, or mix it with plain yogurt and add brown sugar to taste. Top with fresh berries and you have a treat that’s perfect for enjoying al fresco and pretty enough to please Mother Nature. If you can’t find phyllo shells in your market’s freezer, call the Fillo Factory 1-800-OKFILLO for information on availability in your area.

For another afternoon delight, work the following into 8 ounces of low-fat cottage cheese: 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro or parsley, 1/2 cup bottled salsa (temperature of choice), 1 teaspoon celery seed, 1/4 cup dill pickle relish. When well mixed and mashed, add 1 cup grated Jarlsberg cheese. If you’re into making it beautiful, stuff the final product into a head of cabbage or lettuce that’s has been cleaned, trimmed and hollowed out. Serve with crusty bread, assorted crackers and/or crudités for dipping.

Al fresco is also the perfect place for culinary efforts on the messy side. For instance, it’s a great place to make caramel apples. Just provide a bowl of apples, the necessary sticks and your own favorite coating in a chafing dish or fondue pot (they’re both making a comeback so it’s time to dig them out of that closet in the middle bedroom). Kids will need supervision and help with this project, of course, but it’s also a lot of fun for adults-only.

Also making a comeback are S’mores, a toasted marshmallow and a chocolate square in between two graham crackers. They’re even featuring this original Girl Scout camping treat in restaurants, some of which bring a little brazier of hot coals to your table for toasting your own marshmallows. But you can provide each person with an individual votive candle along with all the ingredients. The toasting takes longer but is safer, and if night has fallen, a twinkly treat for the eye is a bonus.

So here’s to dining out of doors, in the fragrance of the day or evening. It’s a boost to the senses and the spirit to break bread in our natural habitat. If we haven’t made it simple enough for you, try this: A blanket, a loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and please pass the thou.

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While we usually consider dessert to be a course served at the end of a meal, some folks live by the credo, “Life’s too short, so eat dessert first!” If that’s your motto, why not host a dessert party? You can make your own selection of goodies or ask each person to bring a sweet and a sweetie. A dessert party works great in the evening, but is also perfect for an afternoon tea-something so fashionable these days, we may be breaking out the white gloves again soon.

Should you opt for a goodie-gathering, make sure to also serve a savory or two. Pretty sandwiches, stuffed mushrooms, pastry cups filled with ham salad or any savory mixture, bowls of olives and almonds (bowls of each, of course!), or like the Scandinavians, toppling piles of roughly cut homemade brown bread, buttered and topped with sliced cheese. If you’re taken by the idea of dessert-only dining, an alternative is to follow dessert with a lightly dressed salad, after the Continental fashion. It levels out the sugar rush and tastes very refreshing.

Lest you still consider dessert to be an afterthought following a meal, keep in mind that you can also create a treat eye-pleasing enough to earn its own place at the table – as a centerpiece. A beautifully arranged bowl of fruit qualifies, as can a fetching cheese plate under a dome, especially if you include edible flowers. Or consider a towering croquembouche – tasty globes held together by drizzled strands of melted sugar. It can be purchased, but it’s simpler to make that you might think.

Another crowd-pleaser that can do double duty as decoration is Pavlova Magic. This Australian treat is sold in an egg-shaped container in many stores and also in numerous food catalogs. The package contains the ingredients for a large meringue and custard to put in the center. Just add fruit and you’ve come up with a winner from Down Under!

Desserts can also become gifts. If you have a special cake or brownie or cookie you make, layer the dry components into a pretty glass container and paste on a label that lists the recipe and the rest of the ingredients. Voilà-an inexpensive but very personal present.

For a pretty and pretty simple fruit dessert, grill pineapple wedges (keep the leaves on!) on a slightly oiled rack until just charred and serve with ice cream. For a variation on the Italian custom of serving strawberries with balsamic vinegar and freshly cracked pepper, try this idea: Simmer one cup strawberry syrup with 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar until reduced to about one cup of liquid. Pour over dishes of halved fresh strawberries and top with a dollop of sour cream and a drift of cracked pepper. Belissima!

But how could we speak of dessert without mentioning one of nature’s most perfect foods? For chocoholics, a dessert just isn’t unless one of the ingredients comes from those delectable cacao beans. From parfaits to mousses, from truffles to candy bars, from cheesecakes to brownies, chocolate can find a place in virtually any dessert. If you’re a chocolate lover and have a group of like-minded friends, a dessert party becomes all the more enthralling, with guests not only sharing their favorite treats, but also rhapsodizing about the wonders of the best chocolate desserts they’ve ever eaten.

Whatever your druthers – cheese, chocolate or something in between – dessert is a multi-functional treat. Share it, give it as a gift, use it as part of your table setting, but most of all – eat it and enjoy!

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Crème de la Crème
A toothsome concoction known as Crème Brûlée – a silky custard topped with a burnt sugar crust – is a dessert that looks harder to make than it really is. There’s a recipe for this popular item in just about every cookbook, but if you’re serious about the subject, buy, beg or borrow a yummy little book called Elegantly Easy Créme Brûlée & Other Custard Desserts by Debbie Puente (Renaissance Books, 1998, $15.99). It has every possible recipe from classic to Caribbean (which tastes like a Piña Colada) to Eggless Créme Caramel. Other offerings include roasted red pepper and chocolate espresso brûlées and sugarless maple custard. It also provides all the techniques for preparation and caramelizing, which is either done via broiler or kitchen blowtorch. An added bonus is the final chapter, which gives tips on how to make sweet somethings like chocolate boxes and botanical ice bowls, which will add pizzazz to your dessert presentation.

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Every party-thrower wants her shindig to be fun, exciting and unforgettable. Most partygoers – especially those who have been to gatherings so dull that guests left early, whispering weak excuses like needing to get home in time to shampoo the cat – will gladly settle for the first item on that list.

To stack the odds in your favor, set the stage for a great party by giving it a theme. While the list of possibilities is endless, here are a dozen ideas for a doozy of a party:

1. Sponsor an evening of games, everything from Scrabble to cards to the latest topper in the app store. Get your guests playing and encourage them to move from game to game, rewarding them with lots of inexpensive but fun (or funny) prizes.

2. Like Alice and her Wonderland gang, have an Unbirthday Party! Each guest’s birthday is celebrated, and everyone officially becomes a whole year younger! (You can even make fake documents to that effect.) Each guest brings a gift and a drawing can determine who gets what.

3. How about a Happy Everything Party, celebrating all the birthdays, anniversaries, holidays at once? This could make for some very interesting (read: crazy) decorations and menus. Fireworks and birthday cake, anyone? An Easter egg hunt and turkey dinner?

4. If your crowd has a favorite movie, rent it and create an evening around its theme, complete with plenty of popcorn.

5. The same idea works for a favorite television show. Whether it’s The Big Bang Theory or Game of Thrones, have several segments on your DVR to show and build the rest of the party on that foundation. Along those same lines, how about an evening of old radio shows, Prairie Home Companion segments, or whatever you and your guests delight in. (Download theme songs from all the old television shows for a perfect group contest.)

6. Other musical possibilities include an evening of karaoke, or even a dance party. Have your guests bring their most danceable playlists and encourage couple, solo, and group dancing so no one has to sit around and wait to be asked before they can cut a rug.

7. Ask the writers or journal-keepers amongst your friends to bring something to the party to read aloud, and invite the non-writers to bring a favorite poem, essay, or beloved bit from a book or magazine.

8. Sponsor a mixer where each guest brings someone the other guests don’t know and play some get-acquainted games. One silly ice-breaker is the “Ketchup Game,” where people place themselves in a line according to how much they like the red stuff, necessitating them asking virtual strangers profound questions like, “Do you put it on French fries? Meatloaf? Mashed potatoes?”

9. Go old-fashioned and have a “Come As You Are” party, meaning everyone arrives wearing whatever outfit they were sporting when they opened your invitation. Another idea right out of party history is the progressive dinner, perfect for friends who live in the same building or neighborhood. Each person is responsible for one course from appetizers to dessert and the party moves from location to location.

10. How about a something-for-everyone Zodiac party complete with an astrologer (or someone funny pretending to be an astrologer, which might be even more fun). As your guests arrive, hand them a scroll listing the characteristics and traits for their astrological signs (Virgo hostesses, of course, will write the scrolls calligraphically and wrap them in color-coordinated ribbons!)

11. Celebrate an obscure holiday or your own personal holiday, otherwise known as an old tradition you just made up. I used to celebrate St. Swithin’s Day (a real holiday) by hosting a pancake supper, and also used to have an Epiphany party every January 6 until it became a household word and everyone started epiffing all over the place. As for holidays you make up, how about National Parakeet Week?

12. Here’s a new spin on the old Rent Party where you raised cash to keep the landlord in wolf’s clothing away from the door. Throw a party to benefit a favorite event such as a suicide awareness walk or a run for finding a cure for breast cancer – the partygoers could actually sponsor one of the riders or runners. Another from-the-heart would be a group effort at making something for a nearby children’s hospital or a convalescent home. Make crazy hats out of ribbons, balloons and paper plates; make construction-paper scrapbooks filled with the fronts of old greeting cards; and “design” necklaces and bracelets from an inexpensive beading kit. These gifts are so appreciated and a lot of fun to make and deliver.

With the right theme, your guests will forget they even own a cat!

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Secrets of Great Parties

How do you become the hostess with the mostest? The secret is to entertain your guests, which the dictionary describes thusly: To pass or cause to time to pass in an agreeable or pleasant manner; to amuse to divert, to recreate. Sounds good, doesn’t it? And possible too, if you just follow these simple guidelines:

Above all, invite an interesting mix of people. Inviting only your co-workers will generate an evening of shoptalk, but if you include everyone from your best friend from childhood to folks from your bird-watching group and recreational softball team, you’ll set the stage for a fascinating gathering.

Give your guests (a) something to do besides simply conversing; (b) somewhere to sit, other than chairs placed around the room in a circle (also know as “The Dead Zone”); (c) something easy but tasty to eat and drink; and (d) the chance to enjoy all of the above with you.

You, after all, are the life of the party. This doesn’t mean you have to be Camp Partytime’s social director for the entire evening, but is should mean that you enjoy the bash right along with your guests. Relax, have a good time, and don’t spend your evening racing from room to room making drinks, passing trays and cooking.

In order to throw the best possible bash and not become a crazed woman in the process, you’re going to need help long before you open the door to greet your first guest. If you need to clean and practically remodel your abode before the party, throw a pre-party for a couple of close friends, send out for pizza and before you know it, all of the work – including the dirty variety – will be complete. For the date of the soirée, a friend, relative or neighbor can be enlisted to help with refreshments and the jillion other little things that need doing during a party.

The type and amount of party food is yours to decide, but make it easy on yourself so you can have (and generate) that good time we’ve been talking about. Don’t make yourself crazy trying to prove you’re a blue ribbon chef and/or make yourself so tired you’ll be the lump of the party instead of its life.

Whichever way you go with the menus, warn your guests ahead of time what to expect food-wise. How many times have you shown up to a party famished, just to find that your host serving appetizers-only? Tell them a light buffet will be served, or it’s dinner at eight or whatever.

Lastly, by all means use colorful paper plates and other paper or plastic party products (the more eco-friendly, the better). This can transform clean up from a wheeze to a whiz.

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