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Even if your Saturday or Sunday schedule bears a shocking resemblance to Monday's—the only difference being birthday parties and apple-picking outings take the place of conference calls and meetings—weekend dinners still feel a little more special than Monday-night meals. Maybe you sit down to the table a little later, and linger a half-hour longer. You eat dessert. You let the pots soak in the sink overnight.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper and Sally Swift, co-creators of the public radio program The Splendid Table, live by Colette's words, "If you aren't up for a little magic now and then, you shouldn't waste your time cooking." They also live by these rules for eating weekends:

1. Enjoy the luxury of having time to make something from scratch, whether it's chicken stock or homemade pasta.

2. Spend a lazy afternoon in a new neighborhood where maybe you don't speak the language, but can find new markets and restaurants. Try Vietnamese, Indian, Ethiopian or one of these other global cuisines.

3. Share the work. Four or six hands at the stove and sink makes you feel less of an imprisoned kitchen wretch.

See Kasper and Swift's new book, The Splendid Table's How to Eat Weekends, for 100 recipes for Saturdays and Sundays, plus ways to incorporate leftovers into "Work Night Encores."

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