For Donna Leahy, the usual morning fare is just a departure point for her original menus. Take oatmeal, for instance. Even that sturdy but mundane dish is transformed, combined with apples and pecans and baked into flaky phyllo packets. Eggs also achieve new status - with pancetta on potato nests or with risotto, spinach and parmesan cheese. Equally seductive are corn waffles with smoked salmon; gingerbread pancakes with apple raisin syrup or walnut French toast with poached pears and Stilton cheese.The dishes in Leahy's "Late Risers" chapter in particular move easily from early in the day to brunch and lunch, and then on the supper - and even beyond. Seared scallops with pink grapefruit and caviar, for just one example, make a lovely brunch, but they could as easily open the most formal dinner party. And why confine wild rice and almonds tossed in orange vinaigrette to the A.M.?Donna Leahy's cuisine is brightly contemporary, rooted in tradition and very much her own. In addition to her brilliant food sense, she has the advantage of cooking in the heart of Lancaster County, one of America's richest farmlands, and she shares her knowledge of fine ingredients with her readers. As a first rate innkeeper, she also has developed amazing organizational skills and in the final section of this book offers menus for entertaining and strategic one- and two-day plans for executing them. Read Less