Everything but the Ants

Maybe it��s the Stone Age cave dweller lurking inside our collective unconscious: Food tends to taste better when eaten in the open air. However, even though we no longer need to contend with marauding saber-toothed cats, dining outdoors in the 21st century still has the potential for ambush.

��A picnic is like having a baby��you don��t know what you��re in for,�� quips Mary Ellen Pinkham, host of Home & Garden Television��s TIPical Mary Ellen, who offers additional tips at HGTV [hgtv.com], the cable channel��s Web site. ��It��s no fun when the mosquitoes and ants and bees are attacking.�� To avoid midday heat and insects, Pinkham suggests an alfresco breakfast or a moonlight snack. ��Put up some tiki torches, toss a blanket on the ground, and enjoy dessert!�� she says. For more advice, search for picnic at the HGTV site.

Wine adds zing to any brown-bag affair. ��Whites travel better than reds,�� says Paul Singer, publisher of WineLeisure.com. ��For a picnic, I suggest a New Zealand sauvignon blanc. Keep it chilled long enough to still be cool when you open it.�� Insulated wine carriers help, and they prevent jostling. See WineLeisure: Wine 101 [wineleisure.com/wine101.html] to choose a great vintage.

Want some punch with your lunch? Manhattan mixologist Dale DeGroff recommends toting chilled cocktails in a thermos with a push-button spout. ��This keeps the bugs from making kamikaze dives into your punch bowl,�� he says. To sample DeGroff��s recipes for South Hampton Punch and sangria, buzz by KingCocktail.com [kingcocktail.com/Elegantpicnics.htm]. Cheers!

Copyright © 2002 Ziff Davis Media Inc. All Rights Reserved. Originally appearing in Yahoo! Internet Life.