A glassless picnic, fit for Renoir

It doesn't seem logical, but sometimes civility and safety do clash. For example, around the pool on a hot summer's day when someone whips a glass of cold Sancerre out of your hand and dumps it into a neon orange plastic mug. "Sorry about that," says the pool police, "No glass out here."

Ugh.

I have a friend in Paris who is a great organizer of picnics and who thinks in exactly the opposite way. He has a hard and fast rule: no plastic, no paper, no packages. If you want to get invited to one of his gourmet déjeuners sur l'herbs along the Seine, be prepared to come with porcelain serving dishes for your ratatouille and potato salad, proper cutlery, cloth napkins, wooden boards for cutting the boule, proper glasses for the rosé … the works. I'll tell you, it's so worth it: Every one of his picnics is Renoir worthy.

And yet, I remember what pain it was lugging heavy baskets to those picnics. And, much as I loathe so many beachy plastic dishes, I don't relish the thought of cut feet either. And so, I – who have once or twice been called "uncompromising" (personally, I like to think of this particular character trait as "having standards") – have compromised.

Not wantonly, mind you. I have been very, very picky in my collection of outdoor dishes.

It started with a Rustic Melamine Platter from Williams-Sonoma, which I bought because it looked quite convincingly like vintage French porcelain. (Their Iznic collection is also quite gorgeous if you prefer more colour.) Mine is white and designed to look worn, which is most eye appealing, but what's even better is that it weighs about 885 grams (unlike a pottery dish I own of the same size which weighs four kilos, and that's before you get the lobsters on there).

Next came Govino wine glasses. Do I love drinking out of plastic? No, but when that's the only option (sometimes by law), then it's lovely to have something in the hand that doesn't look as though it should come with a box of crayons. My Govino glasses look rather like Riedel stemless, only with a patented thumb notch. They're lightweight, the rims are thin and they're BPA-free, shatterproof and recyclable.

Finally, a Loblaws water bottle entered the scene. I initially bought it because it looks convincingly like vintage glass and has real heft.

Then I discovered another thoughtful feature: In addition to the cap at the top, you can screw the bottle open at the shoulders, which makes it easy for the dishwasher and also allows you to add mint, cucumber or lemons slices to your eau de pique-nique.

Dining without proper dishes is certainly not something I'd advocate making a habit of, but if you're going to be outside this summer, these are some dishes that will help you do it in style.

Do you know of a genius domestic product? If so, Laura wants to hear about it.

E-mail domesticaffairs@globeandmail.com