Lucy Kazickas, who ran the Lucy’s Whey cheese shop that was on East Hampton’s North Main Street, and now operates at Chelsea Market in New York City, is offering small-batch local cheeses and a selection of other cheeses from around the country each week at the Springs Farmers Market. She will ­also take orders for fruit tarts. Lucy’s Whey also has a Whey-to-Go delivery service to Hamptons locations. Information can be found at lucyswhey.com. The farmers market takes place at Ashawagh Hall from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays.

July Fifth Party

Guests have been invited to the Montauk Yacht Club on Sunday beginning at noon to “party like a sailor” at a “sailor soiree.” It will feature rock and roll by Joe Nakatta, a photo booth, games, sailor tattoos, and $12 glasses of “sailor punch.” Anyone in sailor attire will be given a free shot of grog.

New on Stretch

This year, @Bernie’s has joined the lineup of places to eat and drink along the Napeague stretch. Serving brunch, lunch, dinner, and late-night plates seven days a week, @Bernie’s has “original Tennessee barbecue recipes with a European twist,” according to a press release, with an executive chef who comes from the Barn restaurant in Astoria. Some of the dishes on that restaurant’s menu, such as braised beef short ribs, smoked pulled pork, and barbecue baby back ribs, have been brought east. The restaurant has a patio area and a fire pit, and will be offering live entertainment.

Takeout Barbecue

In East Hampton on Pantigo Road, Smokin’ Wolf BBQ is now open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. for lunch and dinner. The shop also offers full-service catering.

Farm Shares

    Summer shares are still available in the Peconic Land Trust’s community-supported agriculture farm in Amagansett, Quail Hill. Single and family memberships may be purchased by calling the land trust’s offices in Southampton.

Out at Gosman’s

The Inlet Cafe at Gosman’s Dock in Montauk has a new lineup of specials. Monday is pasta night, when diners have a choice of pesto chicken farfalle, wild mushroom penne, sausage and broccolini ravioli, or linguine with white clam sauce, all served with salad, for $20. On Tuesday nights, a five-course Japanese tasting menu, including dessert, may be ordered for $39, or $59 paired with beer or sake. Wedneseday is lobster night, with special prices on lobsters, and on Thursdays, a Montauk shore dinner is served: three courses for $30 including clam chowder, clams casino or baked clams, and fried or broiled cod with mussels, red potatoes, and an ear of corn.

The cafe also has a happy hour with drink specials and $10 appetizers including calamari, shoyu chicken wings, grilled flatbread, burgers, and a six-piece chef’s choice selection of sashimi.

At South Edison

Disco Fries is now offering “composed French fry dishes” at a late-night takeout window at South Edison restaurant in Montauk. Available from midnight to 3 a.m., the menu includes items such as Disco Fries, which are topped with braised short ribs, cotija cheese, and brown gravy; Breakfast All Day, with fries stacked with two fried eggs and bacon; Southern Fried Poutine, with fried chicken, brown gravy, and cheese curds, and sweet Doughnut Fries, which include Nutella and vanilla ice cream.

Full Moon Potlucks

The East End Cooperative Organic Farm in East Hampton will be the place for potluck dinners on full-moon nights for EECO Farm gardeners and their guests. The fee to participate — besides one’s own supper, or, as requested but not required, a potluck dish — is $5 for farm members and $10 for guests. Children are free. A barbecue grill will be set up for people to grill their own food. The first potluck of the summer will begin tomorrow at 6 p.m.; others will take place on Aug. 1, Aug. 29, and Sept. 19.

Indian Wells Specials

Indian Wells Tavern in Amagansett has a new summertime prix fixe, featuring an appetizer, entree, and glass of house wine or draft beer for $30. Available on Tuesday, the special includes a choice of mixed greens or Caesar salad, mussels and fries, wings, or homemade hummus to start, followed by an entree of fish and chips, seafood pasta, roast chicken, baby back ribs, prime rib, or the catch of the day.

1770 House

Michael Rozzi, the chef at the 1770 House in East Hampton, who consulted with Robyn Lea, the author of a new book called “Dinner With Jackson Pollock: Recipes, Art, and Nature,” will include some menus inspired by the book on the restaurant’s menu this summer. Mr. Rozzi will be participating with Ms. Lea in a discussion on Tuesday at Guild Hall in East Hampton on the relationship between food and art, and in August will cook a private dinner for 12 at the Pollock-Krasner House and Study Center in Springs in honor of the book. Also on the 1770 House menu this summer are seasonal dishes centered on local produce, seafood, and meats. The garden patio at 1770 House, which has achieved a Zagat rating as the best restaurant in East Hampton, and one of the top five regionally, is now open for al fresco dining.

Babette’s restaurant in East Hampton is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. The eatery, on Newtown Lane in the village, offers a select menu of fresh, organic dishes, along with juices from a juice bar. It was founded in June 1995 and is run by Barbara Layton of East Hampton, who opened a second Babette’s in Newport Beach, Calif., last year with her son. Babette’s is serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner in East Hampton every day from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Featured Beer

Narragansett beer is being offered for $3 a pop through tomorrow at 668 the Gig Shack in Montauk, in homage to the movie “Jaws,” in which the New England beer appears. A shandy beverage — the beer plus lemon — will also be offered. The “Jaws” theme at the restaurant includes a mural by a Brooklyn artist, Natalia Zukerman, of Quint, the shark-hunter in the film, who was based on Montauk’s Frank Mundus.

Waterfront in Montauk

At Rick’s Crabby Cowboy Cafe on East Lake Drive there is seafood and barbecue fare on the menu and firepits where diners may have s’mores for dessert by the fire. An oyster happy hour takes place daily from 4 to 5 p.m., and there is live music by Lawrence Cooley in the waterfront bar on Thursday nights from 6 to 10. Also on the menu is a new Mediterranean swordfish special, with the fish served with black olives and tomatoes on lemon couscous. Beverages include local and other wines and beer from the Greenport Harbor Brewery. The site is accessible by boat, with dock and dinghy slips available.

Sole East Summer

Also in Montauk and serving Mediterranean-influenced dishes is the Backyard Restaurant at Sole East inn, which is serving lunch and dinner daily, and a brunch, complete with bossa

nova music, on Sundays.

Among the new summer menu items are a $19 surf and turf with a rosemary grilled lamb chop, lemon-mint gremolata, and orange miso-glazed shrimp; clams casino with jalapeno, basil, and bacon butter; gnocchi with lobster, cherry tomatoes, and tarragon; duck confit; herb-brined roasted chicken, and penne with pesto, pine nuts, and ricotta salata. Items from the grill, served with a side dish of choice, include skirt or hanger steak with chimichurri sauce and Montauk-caught sea scallops, striped bass, or monkfish.

You can learn a lot about people by the type of food they serve at a cocktail party.

Some of my friends just put out a humongous cheese platter with grapes. Have you ever noticed that the blue cheese is always the last one left standing? Quite often you see the Citarella crudite assortment, still in its plastic compartmentalized platter with dill dip. In this case, it’s usually the broccoli florets that are left behind. Personally, I find cheese too filling and fattening before a meal. And crudites? As long as they’re served with more interesting savories, they’re okay. There are always virtuous dieters in our midst. Personally, I appreciate it when people make a little more effort for their friends, and I’m not talking pigs in a blanket!

Canapés, hors d’oeuvres, tapas, mezze, zakuski, bocas, pinchos, anju, smorgasbord. No matter what you call the little bites served with drinks around the world, they have an interesting history and serve a purpose. During Prohibition, tiny bites were served to patrons at the underground 21 Club so they wouldn’t reek of alcohol upon exiting the upscale boozery. In Spanish culture tapas and bocas are served to encourage conversation among guests because once the meal is served, everyone will be focused on their food.

Little bites of food are served with drinks to both act as a blotter to absorb alcohol and to stimulate the appetite, a delicate balance. Zakuski, literally translated to “little bites,” are attributed to Czar Peter the Great. By the 19th century, zakuski were served in a room specifically for this purpose. Guests would gather around the table, clink glasses, propose a toast, down a shot of vodka, and follow it with a bite of pickled herring or caviar. Vodka cleanses the palate, leaving it stimulated for the next taste.

Canape translates to “sofa” or “couch,” but originally meant “canopy” as in the netting that covered a bed or sofa. The canape is the “sofa” upon which you place the topping. Hors d’oeuvres translates to “outside of the work,” meaning smaller bites of food before the main meal. If you have trouble spelling it, just call them “eperons bachiques” as Rabelais did, meaning to “spur Bacchanalia,” or thirst. “Vol au vent” or “blown by the wind” are tiny round canapes made with puff pastry.

I have one friend who doesn’t serve anything during the cocktail hour. He is an excellent cook and believes it spoils his guests’ appetites to serve food before food. By the time people sit down to dinner they are bombed and starved. I heartily disagree with this method of entertaining.

At the other end of the spectrum, my friend Dickie B. likes to whip up hot little savories as the guests are hanging around the kitchen. While I like to be finished with my cooking and able to mingle with my friends, I have to admit people are always impressed and delighted to watch Dickie fry tiny corn fritters and salty zucchini strips. Party as performance art.

If you don’t want to do any, or very much work, by all means, get that layered Mexican dip from Round Swamp Farm and watch people go nuts over it. For a wee bit of expense, you can serve hors d’oeuvres from Loaves and Fishes, little mushroom profiteroles and spanikopita that are better than homemade.

I have a few easy cheats up my sleeve that people always love. Slice a log of plain goat cheese into three-quarter-inch discs and arrange on a deep platter. Top with lots of coarsely chopped garlic, fresh or dried thyme, drizzle with good olive oil, and serve with Carr’s Wheatmeal crackers which are slightly sweet and pair perfectly with the sharp garlic and mild cheese. Commercially made taramasalata (Greek carp roe dip) can be found at a few grocery stores and seafood shops out here. It’s even better when you whip in a few drops of olive oil, lemon juice, and grated onion. Serve it on simple Melba toast-type crackers.

For no-work-at-all appetizers, buy fancy truffled popcorn, salt and pepper pistachios from Trader Joe’s and supermarket hummus. You can doctor the hummus with smoked paprika, lemon juice, cumin, whatever you like. Provisions in Sag Harbor has pretty good vegan Thai spring rolls you can serve with sweet chili sauce.

My grandparents always served melted cheddar with a dab of chutney on crackers or small toast rounds, and peanut butter on crackers with a bit of crisp bacon on top. These are simple and easy hors d’oeuvres that strike the right balance of salty, sweet, and filling but not too filling.

If you want to serve olives, buy a variety and marinate them with strips of lemon and orange peel, some fennel seeds, sliced garlic, and the juice from the lemon and orange.

My cocktail party fare is usually determined by budget and how much time I have to prepare. Making homemade hors d’oeuvres, canapes, etc. is always more economical but not always

feasible. Do as much as you can to show your guests how much you care. A party is more about friends, but trust me, if you serve good food, they will remember. Don’t just serve Jack Benny’s definition of hors d’oeuvres — “a ham sandwich cut into 40 pieces.”

Here are some recipes to make your summer soiree more soignee.

Click for recipes

Tickets are on sale for A Taste of Montauk, to be held at the Montauk Yacht Club on July 26 from 6 to 9 p.m. The event will feature dishes made by numerous Montauk restaurants, including Saltbox, La Brisa, Scarpetta Beach, Gulf Coast Kitchen, Turtle Cove Cafe, Surfside, Westlake Fish House, East by Northeast, Joni’s, and the Backyard at Sole East. Beverages by Long Island wineries and breweries will be served, including Montauk Brewery beer, and Sarah Conway and Friends will perform. Tickets, which are available through the Montauk Chamber of Commerce, the event’s sponsor and the recipient of the money raised, are $65 in advance and $75 at the door.

Lunch at the Vineyard

The Wolffer Estate winery in Sagaponack will host a stroll through the vineyard followed by a barbecue lunch at the Wolffer wine stand on Montauk Highway on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Roman Roth, a Wolffer owner and the winemaker, and Rich Pisacano, the vineyard manager, will discuss the sustainable viniculture practices used and provide tastes of wines and hard ciders during the tour. The lunch will be provided by Hill Country Barbecue Market. Tickets may be reserved through the Wolffer website and cost $65 plus tax and a processing fee.

Book on Nutrition

Stefanie Sacks, the author of “What the Fork Are You Eating? An Action Plan for Your Pantry and Plate,” will read from her work on Saturday from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Concerned Citizens of Montauk office on South Elmwood Avenue in Montauk. Ms. Sacks, a certified nutrition specialist and dietician nutritionist, holds a master’s degree in nutrition from Columbia University and is a graduate of the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts. She is the host of “Stirring the Pot,” a radio show on 88.3 FM, the Peconic Public Broadcasting station, and the author of a blog, “What the Fork Weekly.”

Taste of Summer

Dan’s Taste of Summer, a food event sponsored by Dan’s Papers, begins tomorrow night with GrillHampton, a barbecue competition between eight Hamptons chefs that will be hosted by Robert Irvine and Marc Murphy, who appear on the Food Network. Tickets to tomorrow night’s event are $125. Those who wish to also attend a meet-and-greet with Dwight (Doc) Gooden, a former New York Met and Yankee, can pay $185 for the event, which will include an autographed photo of the sports star, or $200, which will include both a photo and a baseball.

On Saturday, Taste of Two Forks will feature food and drink from North and South Fork restaurants, food purveyors, and wineries, and will also be hosted by Food Network stars Katie Lee and Michael Symon, who also appears on “The Chew” on ABC. The event will honor B. Smith, a Sag Harbor restaurateur, and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to All for the East End.

General admission tickets to the Saturday event are $170, and $250 for V.I.P. tickets. A package of tickets for both nights is available for $275, or $355 for V.I.P. Both events this weekend will occur at Sayre’s Park in Bridgehampton; tickets may be ordered online at danstasteofsummer.com.

Montauk Food Truck

The Montauk Board Riders food truck, parked at the Ditch Plain beach, is selling Harmless Harvest products, from juices to yogurt and other prepackaged snacks and bites.

Breakfast at LT

LT Burger in Sag Harbor is now serving breakfast. On the menu are egg dishes such as eggs benedict, burritos, huevos rancheros, and egg white omelets, along with French toast, sandwiches, pastries, and Hampton Coffee Company coffee. Cocktails such as Bellinis and Bloody Marys are served as well. Breakfast is served Friday through Sunday from 7 to 11 a.m., with takeout breakfast items available during those hours daily.

Visitors to the Springs Farmers Market this summer may have encountered a couple of new and smiling faces — the friendly couple at the Buckwhat! booth, selling a new line of tasty bars and noshes made with buckwheat, dates, and other healthy ingredients.

They are Leeann and Mark Rybakov, who live in Springs part-time just up the road from Ashawagh Hall.

Ms. Rybakov, a recent graduate of the International Culinary Center in SoHo, thought initially about being a chef, but ended up launching the Buckwhat! company along with her brother Edward Kartashevsky, who tends the business side of the equation.

Last spring she began developing the line of Buckwhat! products, which have no added sugar.

“We have been eating buckwheat our entire lives,” said Ms. Rybakov. She and her brother were born in Kiev. Her husband is a native of St. Petersburg, Russia. All three came to the United States in 1989.

In Eastern Europe, Ms. Rybakov said, buckwheat, or kasha, is a ubiquitous and popular dish.

Buckwheat, Ms. Rybakov said, is an “incredible” food, dense with nutrition. Those going gluten-free should not be daunted by the word “wheat,” she said — it is not a type of wheat, nor related to wheat, but a plant whose seeds are eaten.

Buckwheat is high in fiber, protein, and elements such as zinc, copper, and potassium, and contains a resistant starch that helps promote colon health. It rates well on the glycemic index, a measure of how much a food raises blood glucose.

According to the Whole Grains Council, it has been eaten for 8,000 years, playing an important role in diets around the world, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe, and was cultivated in the Balkans beginning around 4,000 B.C.

“We took it to a different level — as a seed in the bar, and we grind it down for the noshes,” Ms. Rybakov said. “I just started to experiment with it, and turned it into these little noshes.”

The noshes, small donut-hole sized balls, come in three flavors: cocoa, crunchy peanut butter, and oatmeal raisin. Nosh bars, a more substantial buckwheat square, are similar to the oatmeal raisin-style nosh — peanut butter and fruit-based versions will be added. The company also offers a granola, with cocoa and peanut butter flavors to come.

The products are made in Brooklyn, and Ms. Rybakov hopes they will be carried in stores there in the fall.

Since joining the vendors at the weekly Springs market this summer, Buckwhat! has engendered a great response, its founder said. “It’s like we acquired a new family.” A regular group of customers returns each week to stock up.

With their first baby due soon, the Rybakovs will spend their last summer Saturday at the farmers market this weekend, but hope to return in the fall.

In the meantime, Buckwhat! goodies may be mail-ordered by sending an email to [email protected]. A website through which orders may be placed is being developed.

Where to Call Winston’s

Winston’s Bar and Grill, which took over the old Nichols space this year, has been a hit with diners but less so with the telephone company, which until recently listed it under the old non-working Nichols number. The new number of the Jamaican-themed restaurant is 267-5400. Why an Amagansett exchange when Winston’s is on the Montauk Highway west of East Hampton Village? That’s a question for another day.

Garden Grilling

At Bridge Gardens in Bridgehampton next Thursday, Peter Berley, a chef, will give a demonstration on grilling midsummer garden-fresh vegetables and fruits, using items harvested on site. A tasting will follow. The event, from 5 to 7 p.m., will cost $25, $20 for Bridge Gardens members. Reservations are required, as space is limited, and can be made through the Peconic Land Trust, which has offices in Southampton.

Food and Meteors

Townline BBQ in Sagaponack will have a “meteor-shower party” on Tuesday from 9 to 11 p.m., when two astronomers from the Montauk Observatory will be on hand to offer a guided tour of the night sky, including the Delta Aquarids meteor shower. Telescopes will be used. The restaurant will offer specials on beer and tap cocktails, from $4 to $7, during the event, and serve complementary popcorn and peanuts.

Cooking Classes Upcoming

Karen Lee, a Manhattan-based chef, cookbook author, and caterer, has begun her annual series of summertime cooking classes at a private residence in Amagansett.

Classes in Chinese cuisine take place on Sunday nights, and “Cook for Taste, Eat for Health” classes, centered on a menu featuring local, organic, and seasonal fare, are held on Wednesdays. The class size is limited to 12 people, who dine on the fruits of their labors. The classes take place from 6 to 10 p.m. and cost $115. Ms. Lee’s website, karenleecooking.com, includes menu details and registration information.

Navy Beach

During its “American Summer Riviera” promotion this weekend, featuring Chandon Champagne, Navy Beach restaurant in Montauk will offer menu specials paired with a drink — either Champagne or a “summer spritz.” The selections include Peruvian ceviche or tuna nikkei, for $30; lobster roll, for $40, and a lobster and clam bake for two, with two glasses of Champagne, for $70. The weekend at Navy Beach will also include music by a D.J. and a live reggae band, and a launch service that can pick up boaters who anchor out in Fort Pond Bay. Besides taking reservations for dining, Navy Beach is taking reservations, at a $500 minimum for four-hour slots, for the use of daybeds on the beach.

Circo Southampton

268 Elm Street

Southampton, NY

631-283-2343

Dinner, nightly

To paraphrase a quote-counterquote that was, in fact, never uttered: “The people of Southampton are different from you and me — they have more money.” This may be why a restaurant like Circo will succeed. Manhattan, Abu Dhabi, Southampton. These are wealthy pockets of the world that don’t question why a vegetable lasagna costs $32.

Circo Southampton is situated where Delmonico’s resided briefly and where Savannah’s reigned for years. It is a lovely building with windows all around, an airy dining room, and a spacious back patio, all within teeth-rattling distance of the train station. The decor has touches of the circus theme all the other restaurants are known for, or, as my guest commented upon entering, “it looks like the John Drew Theater.” There are stripes and garlands and whimsically painted plates.

After sitting down, we got a basket of bread with a nice variety to choose from. There are squares of oniony focaccia, some dense sunflower bread, and simple crusty Italian bread.

We began our meal with a mixed salad and the fisherman’s soup. The salad promised “local organic summer vegetables” — three popular buzzwords in one menu description, bravo! It was a mesclun mix with two slices of horse carrots, some slivered fennel, and a hothouse tomato quarter. The lemony dressing was good and there was a generous portion of shaved Parmesan cheese. The fisherman’s soup was a bummer. It was a thin, watery, lukewarm tomato broth with ice-cold precooked clams and mussels. The garlic toast promised on the menu did not appear with this dish. I suspect it was hiding in a warming tray in the kitchen crying out, “No, noooooo, please don’t put me on that boring soup!”

For entrees we ordered the garganelli with braised duck and the aforementioned vegetable lasagna. I was dying to discover why a lasagna dish would cost more than the branzino or chicken.

Both dishes were quite good. The garganelli was cooked al dente. There was plenty of duck meat, which was tender and flavorful, and the sauce was rich with wild mushrooms and a hint of sage. It did, however, lack the promised fava beans. The vegetable lasagna was very good. It had many — at least seven — layers of thin, eggy homemade lasagna sheets separated by bechamel, peas, asparagus, zucchini, shredded carrots, and cheese. The tomato sauce on top was thick and wellseasoned, and it was topped with scallion micro-greens.

The service on the night of our visit was very good. Our waitress was friendly and funny and efficient and very busy, and there was a manager or owner on the premises making sure his guests were happy and taken care of.

Prices at Circo are high. Appetizers are $16 to $26, pastas $22 to $32, entrees are $28 to $69, and sides and desserts are $11.

For dessert we tried the cannoli and “Le Cirque’s legendary creme brulee.” Desserts here are plated and presented in a way you would expect at these prices. There are langues du chat (cat’s tongue cookies) and sugar work and swirls of white and dark chocolate cavorting with the trapeze artists on the primary colored plates.

The cannoli were pretty good, although not quite as good as the ones we tried at Osteria Salina recently. Both shells were chocolate, one was filled with candied orange peel-flecked ricotta. The other was filled with chocolate chip ricotta and garnished with maraschino cherries, giving it an oddly phallic appearance if glanced at in a certain way.

When you describe your dessert as “legendary” on a menu then, by golly, it had better be. Creme brulee is the simplest of desserts, containing only four deliciously artery-clogging ingredients, but it is often screwed up. This version was simple and good. The sugar topping had a nice crack to it, and the custard was just sweet enough and filled with lots of vanilla bean seeds.

When we exited, a charming woman named Maria jumped up from her seat to ask how our meal was, to tell us the restaurant is about to install a pizza oven, and that it will be open all year round. These are the kinds of gestures that make you want to love a place — the friendly, warm, and welcoming atmosphere.

Circo is still new, so here’s hoping those somewhat disappointing dishes get tweaked . . . or heated up. For now, I’m sure the wealthy tribes will enjoy the safety and habits of dining in the same establishments they’re used to, be it in Manhattan, Abu Dhabi, or Southampton.

The farmers market building on Main Street in Amagansett, for years the Amagansett Farmers Market, and then a market run by Zabar’s, will reopen on Saturday as a food outlet overseen by the Amagansett Food Institute. It will showcase local and regional produce and foods prepared by local companies, including those who use the institute’s South Fork Kitchens space on the campus at Stony Brook Southampton.

The market will also be a focal point for the institute’s work to raise awareness of local food and food-related issues, which will include readings, lectures, videos, demonstrations, tastings, and other events for children and adults.

Amber Waves Dinner

Amber Waves Farm, which is right behind the Amagansett market and is involved in the food institute, will begin a Copper Oven Dinner series tomorrow night at 5 p.m. with a three-course seafood-centric meal.

All of the meals will be cooked in the farm’s wood-fired copper oven and served on tables next to the farm fields.

Tomorrow, Megan Huylo, the farm’s resident chef, will use seafood caught off Montauk on the Anna Mary by Anthony Sosinski (Little Anthony) and Amber Waves vegetables, served with wines from the Channing Daughters Winery in Bridgehampton and Montauk Brewing Company beer. The menu will include lobster pizza, caprese salad, a green salad, potato salad, corn on the cob, mussels, clams, and breads made with Amber Waves Farm wheat.

The evening begins with cocktails and a tour of the farm from 5 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $150.

Karen Lee’s Classes

Karen Lee will present a cooking class on Sunday focusing on Chinese dishes, her specialty, at a private residence in Amagansett. The menu includes ginger beef with a snow pea garnish, steamed Sichuan whole sea bass, Asian eggplant, cilantro rice pilaf, and almond cookies.

Ms. Lee, a New York City chef, cookbook author, and cooking teacher, will continue her East End classes with a Chinese dinner session on Aug. 16, and a Wednesday night Cook for Taste, Eat for Health session on Aug. 19. An Aug. 12 class is sold out.

The classes, which include feasting on the dishes prepared, cost $115 and can accommodate a maximum of 12 students. Those interested can register online at karenleecooking.com.

At Topping Rose

The Topping Rose House inn and restaurant in Bridgehampton has a seafood raw bar with half-shell goodies on Fridays and Saturdays during dinner hours, and during its Sunday brunch. Sundays at 6 p.m., there is a pig roast every weekend through September for $95 per person, and each weekend at Topping Rose House a new beer or cocktail is introduced.

Kids Eat Free

Kids eat free on Wednesdays between 6 and 8 p.m. at the Backyard Restaurant at Sole East in Montauk. They must be under 12, accompanied by an adult, and order off a kids’ menu. After dinner, dessert can be s’mores prepared at the restaurant’s fire pit.

This is the time of year when we want to spend as much time as possible outdoors on the water, at the beach, in a park. So naturally we want to bring along foods that are easy to transport, are tasty and stay fresh, and, most important, remain safe. Here are two facts: One, the more equipment you bring, the better equipped you will be. In other words, if you don’t mind bringing one or two coolers and a collapsible table, you will be so much happier. Keeping your food off the blanket in the sand is crucial. With kids and dogs, it is inevitable that sand will get kicked around and ruin your s’mores. Two, commercial mayonnaise is not Picnic Enemy Number One. It is, in fact, a stable food and perfectly safe at room temperature.

While researching picnic and boating excursion options I was appalled at some of the suggestions. Granted, a lot of the boat people weighing in with food ideas were men who clearly are not gourmets and are the least concerned about a balanced and delicious meal. One fellow suggested M.R.E.s (military food, just add water, yum!), Gatorade, and beef jerky. Another said bring a Thermos of hot water, then you can dunk some hot dogs in it to warm them up. Chicken tenders from a deli, Lunchables, Uncrushables (frozen peanut butter and jelly sandwiches), lunchmeats, and canned chicken were also popular. But this is supposed to be a picnic, not supplies for a survivalist bunker or a Navy SEAL training program.

One fellow suggested attaching a piece of metal to the boat engine above the exhaust manifold, wrap your dogs in foil and voila! Gas-fume-bilge-flavored franks! Or as this is most often referred to, “muffler meat.” Another website called “Healthy Quick Meals” was full of exactly not that. This site suggested a garlic, oil, and avocado dip mixed with canned salmon. They crowed, “these dips can be safely taken on picnics because they contain no mayonnaise.” F.Y.I., garlic in oil at room temperature (without acid such as lemon juice or vinegar) is a recipe for botulism. So don’t do this.

The reason two coolers are a good idea for boating or beach is one can be used for food, filled with gel ice packs or ice, and this container will only be opened a few times on your outing. The cooler containing water, beer, tea, juice, wine, etc. can be opened as often as you like without fear of spoilage.

What are some ideal foods for these outdoor activities? As long as things are kept cool, fried chicken, substantial sandwiches, and hearty pasta salads are all good. Fresh fruit, cut up or whole, is refreshing and healthy.

Dave Gibbons, an East Hampton resident, author of three cheese books, and columnist for Wine Spectator, had a number of suggestions for durable edibles for a long hike or all-day outdoor excursion. “Any hard, aged cheese is the perfect food: it’s transportable, concentrated nourishment, and along with a piece of whole grain bread, constitutes all a human being needs to complete a healthy balanced meal. After all, the Roman Centurions survived their decades-long picnic with a version of Parmigiano-Reggiano, bread, salami, wine, and water.” Mr. Gibbons recommends a high quality Pecorino Toscano, Gruyere, or a traditional cloth-bound cheddar, such as Montgomery’s or Keen’s or Vermont’s Cabot. “Never skimp on quality, especially if you are eating the cheese alone with bread. A little goes a long way.”

Madeline McLean, founder of Madeline Picnic Co., based in East Hampton, also had some great suggestions. She only uses local, organic produce and Carissa’s Breads for her sandwiches, tartines, and salads. She likes a hearty grain salad with vegetables that can marinate in a Tupperware container. Greek salad is a favorite. Currently popular with her clients is a Tuscan squash salad with zucchini, summer squash, cannellini beans, and toasted walnuts in an olive oil-lemon zest vinaigrette. She also recommends a Corkcicle for wine bottles. Open your wine in advance (how many of us have ventured out on a picnic and forgotten the corkscrew?) and stopper it up with this frozen plastic contraption. Wine stays cold . . . aaaaand accessible. For desserts, instead of messy, sticky, melty items like brownies, she includes madeleines in each picnic basket. They are little French cakes, the perfect size for one or two sweet bites.

Picnics began as an amusement for wealthy folks. They would bring elaborate meals into the forest or parks and spend the day frolicking and entertaining each other. Some sample menus from the 18th and 19th centuries make me glad I live in another era: “fried eggs, broiled sausage, onion and tomato sandwiches, pickles, doughnuts, and coffee.” Another suggestion: “baked bean sandwiches, potato salad, apples, gingersnaps.” How does “fish balls, graham bread with butter, and prune whip” sound? More like visitor’s day at San Quentin if you ask me.

If I know I am going to spend the day on a friend’s boat or hours at the beach, I like to make lots of portable food the night before. The other day I made Ina Garten’s fresh pea soup, which is marvelous hot or cold and contains no dairy. Delia Smith’s oven baked chicken is better and cheaper than store-bought fried chicken, and lastly, I made a chopped salad with watercress, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, scallions, sweet potatoes, and toasted pecans in a ginger garlic dressing.

By all means, you can just pick up a Villa Combo or fried chicken from Brent’s, but homemade picnic foods are always so much better, healthier, and less expensive. Just remember to bring sunscreen, garbage bags, lots of water, and some wipes. After all, as the 1900 book “Science in the Kitchen” says: “it’s the spirit, not the food, that makes this meal special.” Well, kinda.

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Shame on you, Mark Bittman, for slamming spinach in your April 12, 2012, New York Times column. In it you refer to spinach as the “homework” of vegetables, you slam the ’70s fad of spinach salads, and say this is the “least convincing” or tasty way to prepare Spinacia oleracea, honorable member of the beet family. I admire you, sir, but here you are dead wrong.

Mr. Bittman does go on with some delicious sounding methods of beating the tender leaf into submission, from wilting, steaming, braising, and slow cooking with butter and a cup of cream.

I feel sorry for people whose only experience with spinach is in the form of the bagged stuff at the supermarket, chopped and frozen by the Green Giant, or hidden in some greasy artichoke dip at Applebee’s.

We are lucky out here to be able to grow our own, or buy freshly picked bundles at the farmers markets and local grocery stores. Yes, spinach is mild, but it is not tasteless. I rather like the French culinary description “cire vierge,” meaning “virgin beeswax,” in that the spinach is capable of receiving and absorbing any and all other flavors it is combined with. Most other vegetables assert their own flavors; spinach is the mellow, stoner-surfer dude, willing to be flash-fried, cream­ed, sauteed, a-a-a-and, served raw. Whatever, dude.

Spinach seems to have first turned up on the table in ancient Persia, then in India and China. By the 14th century it was popular in England and France, and when Catherine de Medici became Queen of France in 1533, she apparently liked it so much that she wanted it served at every meal. She was born in Florence, which is why many dishes served with spinach nowadays are referred to as “Florentine.”

The nutritional value of spinach is off the charts, but some people should be wary of some ingredients. It is full of iron and calcium but also contains oxalates, which make absorption of the aforementioned nutrients difficult. The oxalates are also what cause that fuzzy feeling on your tongue or gritty feeling on your teeth when eating cooked spinach. People with kidney or gallbladder issues should also restrict consumption of spinach as it can lead to the formation of pesky stones. Other than that, spinach is full of vitamins A, C, K, magnesium, manganese,  folate, and several B vitamins.

The “popularity” of spinach started by the cartoon “Popeye” in the 1930s actually came about due to scientific mistakes and misinformation that led consumers to believe spinach had many, many times its actual iron content. Quite sad when you think of all the poor children who were forced to eat spinach, most likely canned, and then boiled forever.

There are two basic types of spinach we are familiar with and that are most commonly found at the store. One is Bloomsdale, whose crinkly dark green leaves look like they are made of big green bubbles, similar to Savoy cabbage or black kale. The flat-leaf varieties (the kind you most often see bagged and called baby spinach) have a goosefoot shape and are smaller and flatter.

You want to buy spinach that is very fresh. It should be bright, not floppy or soggy or yellowing. To cook spinach, keep in mind that one pound will only yield three-quarters to one cup cooked. I admit that I am lazy and often buy the bagged “baby” and/or pre-washed spinach. This seems to shrink even more and be even waterier than good, fresh, still-on-the-root spinach. And, yes, washing it can be a bore, but it’s important because grit is no fun to bite into and some varieties have been sprayed and irradiated.

After washing spinach, I just add it gradually to a super hot frying pan, the water evaporates, and as the spinach shrinks down, I add more. To get rid of all the moisture, I just keep it on high heat until I have a little dark green blob of deliciousness.

Our cool climate and sandy soil are quite hospitable to spinach, so I encourage you to try some fresh, locally grown varieties soon, whether creamed or steamed, sauteed or raw in a salad. You too, Mr. Bittman.

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