What a mean little summer this is turning out to be. Still, it wouldn't really feel right if there wasn't at least a bit of rain on our picnic. But who cares when we have got our favourite food on the table.

For me that will include a bird of some sort - chicken, quail, pigeon, whatever - brushed with garlic and herbs and cooked over hot coals. It would be slightly over-seasoned with coarse salt flakes, and eaten with my fingers while still too hot. There would be ice cream to follow - either an over-the-top sundae or something more restrained, like a grown-up ice with rosewater and cardamom.

This month we ask our favourite people for their top recipes for summer. Some have chosen their own, others have mentioned other people's but either way you have a wonderful collection of recipes to play with.

I am not much of a drinker but that doesn't stop me wanting somewhere nice to open a bottle on a warm summer day. This month we have made a list of 50 great places to drink, from rooftops to river banks, and our resident corkscrew Tim Atkin has found a whole host of decent summer wines under eight quid. More than decent, actually.

One thing is for sure, and that is that the moment the sun comes out we somehow manage to instantly forget about the rain and the cold. One brilliant shaft of sunlight and I know I am out there pretending it has been like this all summer. Rain or shine, the only way to cope with this funny old summer is to surround ourselves with our favourite food and arm ourselves with a bottle opener. As they say elsewhere, Happy Holidays!

· Nigel Slater's recipes return next month

· Visit our food blog to kick around the gastronomical issues of the day